With Nowhere to Go
by Kahmelion
Summary: AU/Seventeen year old Hikari was supposed stay in a room rented by her mother. So why is the school's number one hottie in her room. Can she survive a good half- year living with someone she can't help but hate? Besides, with nowhere to go...
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I've decided to re-write the first chapter. To my faithful readers who have been with me from the beginning, I think this is a drastic improvement to the previous first chapter which had me cringing in horror when I tried to reread this fanfiction from the beginning. At last, I could barely stand to _look_ at it anymore and have finally given into my desire to fix it. Hopefully Hikari is now a bit more respectable. To the new readers who have come wandering into the midst of this fanfiction, just remain thankful that I have rewritten this. Trust me. However, beware of the second chapter where the quality of writing drops to zero once again, but don't worry. It improves again at around chapter 15? But watch out, I know lots of people allergic to bad writing. Ha ha just kidding. Well, not really about the chapter quality part…

**Disclaimer:** I know I should be putting this at the top of every chapter and such, but it's just such a bore; just keep in mind that Pokemon is never and _will _never be mine. Not even on Valentine's Day. Oh, ha ha. That was a good one, I crack myself up… eh hem… Sorry, read on…

_When you see my face hope it gives you hell –Gives You Hell, All-American Rejects_

**Chapter One**

I'd faced my share of bad predicaments in the past, but this must beat them all.

No matter how many times I looked at this situation from all sides possible, I could not find a _single_ positive thing about it. Well, maybe if I were just like any other regular girl in my class, year, school, take you pick; but I was _not_. A regular girl, I mean.

Regular seventeen year old girls don't suddenly decide that they'll live on their own for one year when they find out that their mother is being sent to Europe for five years. Regular teenage girls, _don't_ just stand in front of the room rented by said mother staring at the bright green door of said room because they've been kicked out of the same room. Regular seniors like myself, just don't get kicked out of _their _room by the hottest guy in said class, year, school; once again, take your pick.

I clenched my teeth and stomped the ground just for the sake of it. Of course, I don't know what I expected, but it definitely _did not_ help my mood.

'It's perfectly safe, Hikari!' My mother had said. 'You're going to _love_ it there.' She'd reassured. Why I would ever believe my mother, I don't know. It's not like _I'd_ been taking care of her when dad had died (I'm being sarcastic here). Of course, on the other hand, I had had full faith in the Grandma that we'd visited when we were arranging the room agreements.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him after he had told me it was his room, "My mom rented this place just for me." "Not my problem." He said, "I've already moved in, you might as well find a new place." "That can't be right." I said, "Did the Grandma tell you that someone would be living with you?" "No," He answered, "and I have no intention to do so."

He tried to close the door, but I stuck my foot in just in time. "Wait." I said, "Don't you think we should talk to her about this?" I was beginning to get desperate. After hours of looking for this place on foot under a blazing sun, I was ready to rest my poor, tired legs.

"Listen…Annoying Girl –whatever your name is," He called me, making my face turn red, and not in the good way, "I moved in all by myself and I'm ready to rest. Do you know how tired you can get after moving eighteen boxes? I'm sure you don't, so if you're going to go anywhere you can go without me."

I had never gotten a good look at him at school what with all the girls and their jealousy and whatnot, but aside from that Shinji Ikari just wasn't a social person; but now, I could see what was so handsome about him. His cool aloof face was just full of romantic mystery and his violet hair hung around his face in a rather sexy way, I must admit. Okay, there were a whole bunch of stuff that made him look hot, his pointed chin, his set jaw, the dark eyes, but I was still frustrated to the point of no return!

I crossed my arms, my foot still preventing the door to close. "Listen," I said in a menacing tone, "I'm tired and sweaty and I just want to move in and be done with it. Now if I don't find out what's going on right now, I'm going to scream." "Right." He said.

I gave him an 'I- warned- you' look and screamed as loud as I can. All the way down the hall, doors opened and heads peeped out trying to find out what was going on. Shinji's hand clamped over my mouth and he took my wrist and dragged me inside.

"Good." I said, patting myself as if I had just come out of a dirty, dust-filled closet, "Now that we have _that_ settled." "We have nothing settled." He said, immediately letting me go, "You're just an embarrassment to society and I dragged you in to save the general public" "Then _now _what are we supposed to do?" I whined, "I need to complain to _somebody_." "Then call the Old Lady." He suggested, "Anything to get you out of _my_ room."

"Maybe if we go to her house she'll tell us. It can't be that far from here." I said thoughtfully. "Whatever." He said, "Don't let me stop you." "Don't you want to know what's going on too?" I asked him. "Right now, my only priority is to make you go away." He said.

Just as I was about to say something, there was a pound on the door. I gave Shinji a pointed stare, my eyes asking if he was going to answer it. "Oh, I get it." He said, "Since it's _my_ room, I should open the door for _my _guest." I rolled my eyes (he was surprisingly immature) and went to go open the door.

I was just a little bit surprised at the image that stood before me, but mostly wary, there stood a pink- haired woman at around twenty, panting. Great, just what we need, another person to make this even more tiring that this should be.

"Sh- Shinji," She managed to pant out, "I n- need Shi- Shinji, will you call him for me?" All I really wanted to do was slam the door closed actually. Shinji looked over his shoulder from where he was sitting and said in a somewhat surprised tone, "Sumomo?"

The woman named Sumomo looked from me to him.

"Oh geez." She said, slapping her forehead, "This wasn't supposed to happen." "I'll say." Shinji said, "Tell this girl she's in _my_ room." "_Your_ room," I scoffed, "right..."

"I'm really very sorry!" Sumomo cried. I could tell that all this arguing between Shinji and me was getting her flustered, but excuse me for not using proper etiquette at this particular point, but I felt bad, so I tried loosening up a bit.

"I'm the one who told Shinji he could take this room." She told me, "I had no idea that my Grandmother's intentions were to give this room to a family friend." "Oh, that's fine." I said, waving my hands, though it was anything but, "I'll just rent another room and everything will be fine." "Well." She said nervously, "I'm afraid this was the last room. If there were any other available rooms, I would've let you take that one already."

Shinji sighed. "Well now what do we do?" He asked, "I've already moved in, and I'm not packing up and doing it all over again." "And if I tell my mom that there was a problem when I moved, I'd have to move to Europe." I said. "Well, if you two are so desperate not to move, just live together." Sumomo said as if it were obvious.

I blinked my eyes in confusion and looked at her in a very confused manner.

"Live with him?" I asked in complete disbelief, "You expect me to _live_ with him? Do you _want_ me to get defiled in the middle of the night?" He gave me a disgusted look and said, "What's so good about you that I would want to do anything to you?" Then he turned to Sumomo, "And I can't live with this noise everyday, I'd probably go insane." "Calm down." She said nervously, "I was just kidding, and you wouldn't have to sleep in the same room as him, there are two bedrooms."

She was _just kidding_ she said.

I just _had_ to roll my eyes at that one.

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm a girl and he's a boy." I said, "You could wave a million bucks under my nose, but nothing beats my sense of pride and morality." "What about two million?" she asked. "I'd consider…" I said, "But that's beside the point." "See?" She said, "You just have to look at the bright side, at least you'd do it for _some_ kind of reason." "But he… I… Living…" I stuttered. "Why don't you two think about it?" She asked, "If both of you lived here, you could both split the rent, and stay out of each other's way."

Yeah, because living together is the best way to avoid certain people.

"Oh, that's a _great _idea." I said as sarcastically as possible, "Let's live together even though he's a jerk and rude and takes grumpy to a _whole_ new level just so we can save a couple of bucks." "And you know that _how_?" He asked. I narrowed my eyes as I twisted my neck to look at him. "Oh, the few minutes I've spent with you is enough for me to judge you." Sumomo sighed.

"You two will have to decide soon." She told both of us, "Once it gets dark, one of you will have to stay with me for the night." "Why can't one of us just go live with you?" I asked. "Because some of my cousins are coming to live with us soon," She said in an irritated voice I was sure was not directed towards me, "and we won't have any rooms available."

"Why can't you just stop being so stubborn and go back to live with Reiji?" She asked Shinji, "She's only going to be staying at his house for a little while, surely you can deal with her for a few months." "Hmph." Shinji grunted, turning his head to focus on the television, "I refuse to even be in the same room as her for even one moment." "Oh, it won't be _that_ awkward." Sumomo said, walking over to him and shoving him lightly, "That happened _years_ ago." Shinji grunted again.

"Well," Sumomo said, walking towards the door and stopping next to me, "When you're ready to get off your great, might, high horse of pride… Reiji's really worried about you. And if you're going to stay here, you might as well hurry and make the decision." Then she turned to me. "If you decide you're going to rent a room somewhere else, Shinji knows my address." And she gave us one wave and walked out the door.

I turned to face him. "So now what?" I asked. "Don't ask me." He scoffed, "I'm not going to help you do anything." "But I have nowhere to go?" I said softly, sympathy worked best, I should know, "My dad's dead, I have no other relatives, and this is the only place I can afford." "Wait." Shinji said turning around, "You aren't going to cry are you?"

I didn't say anything as small droplets of water rolled down my cheek and a dry sob threatened to come up my throat.

Man, was I _good_.

"I promise I won't be a burden." I said just as soft as before, "But if I can't stay here, I don't know what I'll do."

By the way his jaw set, I could tell he was starting to panic, well, overreact. Obviously, he didn't know what to do when a girl cried just like any other guy in the world.

I'd almost dropped the whole poor girl façade when he sighed and said, "Go and unpack your things." My spirits lifted and I jumped up and started unpacking where the movers had left off before he could change his mind. "Don't think there aren't any rules though!" He called after me.

"First off, you _have_ to wear full- body clothing. I don't want to see _any_ part of you revealed to me. Understood?" He started as soon as I was done unpacking. "What makes you think I'd want to reveal any part of me to you?" I muttered. "Rule two." He started again, "We split the rent. That means, if you don't have your part of the money, we're not writing any IOU's." "What if you don't have your money?" I asked accusingly. He looked at me strangely. "Right." He said slowly.

"Rule three." He said, "I don't want you anywhere in my room. If you don't go through my stuff, I won't go through yours." I gave him a disgusted look he ignored. "Fourth, I don't want any of your girly friends invited over. No one can know we're living together." "Why? They know how to keep secrets." I said under my breath. "And since we go to the same school, we'll have to go at different times, so no one suspects anything." "Why?" I asked, "Don't want to be seen with someone like me?" "Partly." He said, "But if they _did_ find out, I think they'd more of focus on the fact that you're a girl and I'm a boy. Things would _not_ be good for us for the rest of the year."

"I got it." I said. I got up to go to my room when my stomach growled. "I'm hungry." I complained. I walked over to the refrigerator, "Do you have anything to eat?" "Hey!" He shouted at me, "I paid for them. They're my food." "You paid for all this?" I asked as I looked at the filled fridge, "You can't afford this stuff unless you have a job or something."

"Exactly." He said.

My eyes widened in interest, dancing with curiosity.

"You have a job?" I asked, unconsciously leaning in closer to him though he was perhaps 7 feet away from me. "Mind your own business." He snapped, and I recoiled with a hurt look on my face. A look, of course, he couldn't see.

"Let me eat, let me eat!" I whined, stomping my foot on the ground. Hunger made me immature.

"I'm not letting you eat food I bought with my own money." He scoffed. "You can eat the food I make with _my _own money." I reasoned. He let out a 'Ha' of disbelief. "Well, okay, my mom's money." I corrected, rolling my eyes, "And it's not like I'm _totally _useless. I can cook and clean and do laundry and other home-y things wives do."

"We're _not_ married." He vehemently snapped. "Of course not," I said in a surprisingly cool tone, "I'm just saying, you have the food and I have the… frying… pans… and… salt and stuff…" I could see him rolling his eyes. "The point is," I continued, clearing my throat, "I can do stuff you can't and you can do stuff I can't." Though I couldn't think of any at that moment.

"If you're hungry you'd better hurry up and eat." He grunted almost inaudibly.

I grinned and thanked my own luck, taking out a small, packaged fruit salad. I sat down at a small, quaint dinner table next to the kitchen counter (also the furthest away from where _he_ was sitting).

"Why are you watching the news?" I asked, disgust evident in my voice, "Change to channel 13." Shinji looked at me as though he was asking whether I was actually asking him to do that. "Well, go on." I urged. "I'm not going to do that." He said defiantly.

I walked over to where he was sitting and snatched the remote from his hands.

"Oh, stop being such a sissy," I said, pointing the remote at the television, "there are much more exciting things to watch than the news." But before I could punch in the numbers, he took the remote back almost as fast as I'd snatched it from him. "No." He said simply.

Oh, so _that_ was how things were going to be.

"Don't kid me," I said, anger rising, "I paid for cable." "You mean your _mom_ paid for cable." He corrected.

"The television isn't _yours_." I continued. "It isn't your either." He pointed out.

"Just give it to me." I spat, lunging for the sleek, black rectangular shaped object; but he easily avoided my hands and looked at me with amusement.

Oh, well _that _just went too far.

He wasn't going to defile _me_ of _my_ pride and dignity, just for the sake of himself. No, nobody did that to _me_. I was strong, and independent. _I'd_ practically raised my mother after dad was gone. I deserved more than this! So I was just going to let him keep the terrible, oh-so-horrifying news, and handle this the _mature_ way.

At least, that's what I _would've_ done if I had been in my right set of mind.

But my _current_ set of mind at that point had thrown dignity and independence and strength out the window in one big heap, and had started trying to wrestle him for the remote. Of course, him being bigger and stronger, and generally just better at this whole thing than me had managed to slide out of every grab I made at the remote.

In the end, he got his precious news, and all I had was the comfort of my bed, trying to grasp at the last bit of pride lingering in the warm night air.

All-in-all, the first day was good, and I was looking forward to living with Shinji Ikari.

Who knew? Maybe he'd turn out to be a softy trying to protect himself from his depressing past through his mask of stone. All I needed to do was coax him out of his shell and let him be who he truly wanted to be.

Oh, god, I really crack myself up.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

I woke to the beeping of my alarm clock and I sleepily rose my hand to turn it off.

With my hand still on the alarm clock, I slowly rose my head and blinked two times. I slowly stood up from my bed and grabbed a wash cloth and headed towards the bathroom. I wasn't expecting anyone there, of course. But then again, I'd never really experienced a morning with Shinji.

I opened the door and what caught my eyes chased away any drowsiness I had in my systems. There was Shinji brushing his teeth, in nothing but his boxers. He saw me just standing there and said, "Oh, you're up."

I couldn't help it, I screamed.

He dropped his toothbrush instantly and slammed his hands over his ears. "God Woman!" He screamed, "What've I told you about screaming." He started walking towards me to make me stop, but I threw my wash cloth at him, which he caught with ease, and screamed, "Don't come near me!"

I kept backing up until I was out of the bathroom and slammed the door behind me. I sat on a chair, waiting for my face to cool down.

"Calm down Hikari." I told myself, "You've just seen a guy in his boxers. It's okay, at least he was wearing _something_."

I felt my heart racing again as the bathroom door creaked open and I turned around in the chair so he couldn't see me.

"Geez." He said, "By the time you're gone, I'm going to be deaf." "Do you wear _only_ that when you go to sleep?" I asked him, my face getting hotter and hotter. "Yeah." He said, "I don't get what the problem is, at least I'm wearing something. Anyways, it gets hot." "Yeah, well, you don't see me wearing my undergarments when going to bed!" I said accusingly, "Now hurry up and put something on!"

"Fine fine." He said in a careless way. "Good." I sighed. I turned around, _hoping_ he'd have something on by then.

But when I saw he was still in his boxers I yelped and turned around again. "Go put something on!" I said in a voice that was obviously not mine. "Then go and make breakfast." He said. "What am I now? Your maid?" I asked. "Kinda." he scoffed.

"While you go change, I'll make breakfast." I said. When I was sure that he left, I hesitantly looked over my shoulder and sighed in relief.

Now I had to make breakfast. That wasn't very hard. I used to cook sometimes at home. But if I cooked, I'd hardly have enough time to get ready for school. I huffed. We needed to plan something out.

I made eggs. To keep breakfast quick. Although it seemed like a lifetime waiting for the eggs to fry, it was quicker than Shinji. I put them on separate plates and left them on the table.

I quickly walked to the bathroom, washed my face and brushed my teeth and walked out to see if Shinji had eaten yet. When I did, the eggs were finished and there was no sight of him anywhere. 'He must've already left.' I thought. We _had_ agreed to go at different times to avoid all suspicion.

I sloppily put on my uniform, scarfed down my eggs and ran out the door, but not before turning off the lights and locking the door behind me. Now I know how my mom felt.

School wasn't that far away. I had to give credit to my mom. She had picked out a good place. And everything would've been perfect if not for that one boy.

I made it past the gates just as the bell rang. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to class though. Ugh. Thanks a lot Shinji.

I barely made it to class, but got a long and tedious lecture on being punctual anyways.

"You're not usually this late." My friend Haruka whispered, her gaze still focused on the teacher. I would've loved to say, 'Well, I usually don't live with a guy either.' but, sadly I couldn't. Instead, I said, "I had a hold- up this morning."

Haruka didn't say anything and class passed by slower than usual. I didn't understand anything the teacher said. When had we learned all of this? This was bad. I was going to have to ask Haruka for everything again later.

When class was dismissed, I had a huge headache and whatever went in one ear went out the other.

"Hikari." Haruka called, waving her hand to catch my attention. "Yes?" I asked, coming back to reality. "Is it just me or is it coincidence that Satoshi and Kasumi are absent from school on the same day?" I shrugged.

"Knowing them, they probably got a heat stroke on the way to school." I said, "I can't believe we have one more day before Summer Break." "Yeah." Haruka agreed, "My brain needs a break. And since you have your own place now, we can go over any time!"

I froze.

"And we can do anything we want." Haruka continued, "Can I come over today?" "No!" I said loudly. She looked taken aback. "Why?" She asked. "I'm still… unpacking." I said, trying to lie as casually as I could without showing any panic. I was never good during these situations.

"Then what about tomorrow?" Haruka asked. "What do you think I am, a robot?" I asked, "I'm just a girl, it takes a while to get everything ready. What about a nice pool instead? It's Summer anyways."

"Well, a pool _does_ sound nice." She said, thoughtfully, "Especially in this weather. When was the last time it's been this hot anyways?" I shrugged and we continued to our next class.

The next class drawled on slower (if possible) than our first class. And again, I didn't get anything the teacher said. It was the last day of school before Summer break. Why couldn't the teachers give us a break?

I only managed to catch what the teacher had said last. Which included Summer Homework. Did they not get the meaning of Break? Or Holiday perhaps?

"I wish they'd give us one day of break." Haruka whined after class. I was silently agreeing with her of course. "And I was planning to play everyday." She continued. Then suddenly, she stopped, "And maybe experience some Summer romance."

I smirked as I saw her gaze stop at a certain green- headed boy. "It's not very hard." I said, "You walk up to him and confess." "It's not easy." She said defensively, "He's a girl magnet. He's covered by them every second of the day!"

"It's just like you Haruka," I giggled, "to choose to fall in love with the school's play boy." "It's not love." She said, blushing madly, "It's a school crush." "Yeah." I said, "Let's go with that."

"What about you?" She asked, trying to change the subject, "There _has_ to be someone you like." I pretended to think for a moment. "Nope." I said. "Well then," She said, looking around, "What about Shinji?" I choked on the air I was breathing in. "Excuse me?" I gasped out.

"Yeah." Haruka said, "He's extremely popular too. I wouldn't really call him cute, but he's cool. Something that attracts equal amount of girls Shuu has." "I'd rather throw myself in a pit of starving vipers." I said. "Why?" She asked, looking rather offended for some reason, "You don't know him." I snorted.

"Suit yourself." She huffed, "Then what are you going to be doing the whole Summer?" "Shopping." I said, it was extremely obvious, "I need new accessories anyways." "Really?" She asked, "I thought you were going to get a Summer Job, you know, now that you're going to be living alone, you probably have to buy food and pay rent." "My mom's sending money every time I need some." I said, "She's really making sure I take care of myself."

There was a moment of silence where we tried to find another topic to talk about.

"So when are we going swimming?" Haruka asked. I shrugged. "We'll have to talk to Kasumi about it." I said. "Are you kidding?" She scoffed, "Kasumi gets enough of the swimming pool. She's on the swim team for god sakes!"

I shrugged and we headed towards the next class. And the next class, and the next class. Until finally school was over, replaced by Summer Vacation.

I stretched my arms in front of me as the dismissing bell rang.

"Ugh." Haruka said behind me making a face, "My backpack's about to explode it's filled with so much summer homework." "So is mine." I groaned, "This strap is cutting my blood circulation because my bag is so heavy."

"Well, I'm going to head over to Kasumi's house." Haruka said, "I want to make sure she's alright. You want to come to?" "Why not?" I asked. Of course that was a big mistake. When I had answered, I had no idea how hot it would be.

"Are you alright Hikari?" Haruka asked worriedly, "You're sweating bullets!" "It's so hot." I said between pants. "Well, duh. It's summer silly." She giggled.

Was it me or did it seem like we'd been walking for hours.

"You know what?" I said, "I think I'm just going to head home." "Oh, but we're almost there!" She encouraged, "It's farther getting to your new place than getting to Kasumi's anyways, you might as well just rest over at her house." "Yeah, but as they say," I said, "All your good work will be rewarded."

And so I turned around and headed towards the apartment.

Unfortunately, Haruka had been right. Getting back was _way_ further than getting from the school to Kasumi's house. And I was ready to faint when I finally made it.

I didn't have the strength to unlock the door so I knocked.

Shinji opened the door and I could barely see him rolling his eyes.

"You have a key you know." He said in a monotone voice. I smiled goofily. "Heh." I said, "you're hair looks weird. Did you know it was purple?" He gave me a strange look. "What happened to you?" He asked. "Nothing." I said, "Nothing. I'm fine. Why is it so hot?" I took one step forward and I started falling. I would've hit the floor, but Shinji had caught my arm just in time.

"Hey, Annoying girl, are you usually this clumsy?" He asked. "My stomach feels weird." I moaned. I wrapped my arms around my body as my stomach flip flopped. And not in a good way either.

"Don't go on the carpet!" He shouted. I felt him dragging me somewhere. Wherever it was, it wasn't making me feel any better. "Do it in there." He said turning my head so it was facing the toilet.

Whatever came out of my mouth. It didn't taste good. God! What had I eaten for lunch? I was too tired to think, too tired to raise my head after I finished. And everything went black.

**AN. God! It was so embarassing typing "boxers." I was just going to have him topless, but I decided it wasn't embarassing enough. It's three in the morning and I'm soooo tired! This chapter must've been so disappointing. I know. It's because of lack of sleep. It was kind of a filler I guess you could say. I'm really looking forward to the next chapter though. I have so many fun ideas. Well, I'm going to go to sleep.**

**Kahmelion**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Shinji's POV**

I sighed as I stared down at the blue- haired girl laying on her bed. Who knew she was this much trouble? Wasn't she resourceful? The news had said not to be out in the sun too long. Exactly how stupid was this girl?

I wasn't going to give her any mercy when she woke up. She was going straight to the bathroom and scrubbing that nasty gunk she made, off. I had almost gotten sick myself when I saw what came out of her mouth.

"Mmmm." She groaned, turning a little, "Ugh, I feel horrible." "Hmph." I grunted, "You're finally awake." "Who said that?" She asked, sounding completely stupid. "Me, idiot." I said. She looked straight at me and said, "Mom?"

My eyes widened. "What are you talking about Stupid girl? I'm not your mom! I'm Shinji, remember?" I said. Then randomly, she took my face between her hands and pulled me towards her, giving me a light kiss on the cheek.

"Good night to you too mom." She sighed sleepily before curling up and going back to sleep.

My heart was thudding like madly. Who was she to kiss me like that?! And how could I possibly look like her mom! This girl really was an idiot.

I looked at my wrist watch. It wasn't very late, and I didn't have to work today. Which meant I could spend the rest of my day doing whatever I wanted to. What was I going to do? I could go over to Reiji's house. Just peek.

No!

If that woman was there I don't know what I'd do.

I'd just sit around and watch television. I hadn't been able to that for years. So I sat on the couch and flipped through the channels for anything good. As usual, there wasn't. Tell me again why I had this IQ sucking box in my room?

I settled for a cooking contest channel since it seemed like it was the only non- stupid show on at the moment.

When the show was half way done, the phone rang. I picked it up and mumbled, "Hello?" "Shinji!" The caller, I recognized as my brother, Reiji yelled. I jerked the phone away from me as far as possible. "Why is everyone so loud?" I asked to no one in particular.

"What?" I asked rudely.

"Shinji! I'm so glad it's you!" He said, "You move out three days ago, and you don't call or anything! I was so worried!" "Is there a particular reason you're calling at this time?" I asked him in a bored voice.

"Can't you at least visit? She's not here." He said, "You won't _believe_ how much this place has changed since she moved here. It's all pink, and girly, and the whole place smells like citrus fruit. It's lost all it's manliness and I'm going crazy!" "Says the person that wears an apron all over the house." I muttered.

"She's not here, I told you!" He said, "I need to see if you're not starving!" "Why would I be starving?" I asked. "I've tasted you're cooking, Shinji, It's not the best." He reasoned. "Thank you." I said my voice dripping sarcasm.

"Why would you move out anyways?" Reiji asked, "I thought you already got over it. She's getting married, what's done is done." "So?" I snapped, "Who said I moved out because of that?" "Just visit!" He whined, "I miss you!"

"If I tell you I'll come visit, will you shut up?" I asked. "Sure." He answered enthusiastically, "Why not?"

I sighed, hung up and went out the door, but not before I got my back- pack.

As I was walking under the blazing sun, I kept telling myself, I needed a car. Although it'd take more than a year to get one. Since I was going to have to support myself and that brat of a girl.

Why had I let her live with me again? Because I had panicked over some tears. And now this was my punishment for not getting over my fear. Idiotic girl. She gets sick after two days of living together.

I unlocked the door (since Reiji had told me to keep the key, just in case) to my used- to- be house and stepped in.

The house had indeed changed and I pinched my nose from the disgusting smell swirling all over the place. "Ugh, what's that smell?" I asked. "It's citrus, as I've told you over the phone." Reiji said, coming into view, "I'm glad you're not starving." "It's only been three days, the effects would show until at least a week." I answered, dumping my bag on the floor.

"Now, come on!" Reiji said cheerfully, "The cookies I've baked are finished!" I closed my eyes and shook my head. Could he get any girlier?

I followed Reiji into the kitchen and looked around. "How could you let this happen?" I asked him, staring at the flowers in the vase in the middle of the table. "I don't get it," I said, "Her character's changed 360 degrees." Reiji patted my shoulder, "_This_ is what happens when a woman's found her soul mate."

"You would know that, how?" I asked him. He shrugged, "I have my share of secrets." He said, probably trying to sound mysterious but failing miserably, "What about you? How's life without a roommate?"

The girl popped into my head.

"Better." I lied. Not.

"I'm impressed," Reiji said, "I was pretty certain that you would call between the last two hours since you were gone." The statement didn't strike me hard, but I couldn't help but say, "Better than you."

He ignored the statement and asked, "Met anyone lately?" I answered with a simple, "No." "How can you not have met anybody yet?" He asked, "You're seventeen!" "Yeah, and you're 23." I said.

"Yeah, but I've had a ton of girls in my life." He said. "I did _not _need to know that." I said. "You can tell me anything!" He urged, "I'm worried, I don't want my little brother dying alone!"

I rolled my eyes.

"And you won't?" I asked. "No, I won't." He answered, "Cookie?" He held up a plate of fresh cookies up to my nose.

I didn't have much of a sweet tooth and the smell was overpowering so I rejected. I even pushed his arm away, anything to get that smell away, it was so sweet it was making my insides churn.

Reiji sighed dejectedly, and turned away.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked out of nowhere. I panicked (without showing) after the words left my mouth, but it sure seemed to make Reiji feel better.

"You want to ask me something?" He asked incredulously, "Really?" "Yes, really, now shut up." I snapped. I was this far now, no point in stopping, besides, this had really been nagging me ever since it happened.

"Reiji," I asked, hesitating a little, to try to convince myself maybe if I let it all out it would stop bothering me, "do I look like a girl?" There had to be a reason that girl had mistaken me for her mom.

It sounded so stupid after I asked that I almost covered my mouth.

When I finally looked up at Reiji, he had an amused look on his faced where one of the corners of his mouth was raised up, as though he was trying to resist smiling. "What kind of stupid question is that? But, no, why?" He asked. I could hear the overflowing curiosity in his voice.

"No reason." I snapped, "Just… Forget I said anything."

Reiji put down his plate of cookies and sat next to me. "It's because someone mistook you for one, isn't it?" He asked, "It's because of the hair, I told you, you should cut it!" He picked up a strand of my hair, but I slapped his hand away.

"Be quiet." I said with a hint of menace in my voice. He was one to talk. He had hair so long that he had to tie it up. But according to him, he had an aura of manliness around him. Right.

"I'm ready to get out of here." I said as I stood up, "I'll call you more frequently so don't worry, and don't call me here unless it's an emergency."

As I headed toward where my backpack lay, I heard the door open. And soon I was face to face to the very person I was avoiding.

She had _definitely_ changed since I last saw her.

Her blonde hair had grew out and she was wearing a dress. Something she would have rather died than seen in one.

She was slightly stunned for a moment, then regained her composure and shot a cheery smile at me.

"Shinji!" She cried, "It' been what, 3 years?"

Reiji rushed in, looking nervous as his gaze shifted to both of our faces. "Shirona!" He said, "You're _extremely_ early." He had probably put some expression on "extremely" to show me that he really didn't know she'd return this early.

I didn't say anything. Instead, I pushed past her, toward the door. I wanted to get out of here. And fast.

"Did I say anything wrong?" I heard her ask as the door closed behind me.

I didn't know where I was going. I guess wherever my feet took me.

Before I knew it, I was at Amity Square.

I sat down on a nearby bench and watched as little kids played on the small playground not very far from where I was sitting.

What was Shirona doing here? Why would she be here? When she was young, she told everyone this was her most hated place. I would've expected her go to Celestic Town. Her hometown.

I guess, I was more focused on avoiding her that I didn't think about why she was here.

Well, this was what I got for trying to run away from my problems. Of course, I knew I'd have to face her soon.

It hadn't necessarily been _love_. Pretty close, I suppose, but not that feeling exactly. But, I had only been fourteen.

She'd probably known already, that I liked her like that. Then why would she just disappear instead of telling me head on that she didn't like me back.

She has some nerve to disappear and return three years later just to tell me she's getting married.

I sighed and leaned back until my head could go any further. This was going to be one nerve- racking year. I wouldn't be able to be relaxed for one day unless that girl was out of my house or until I got over Shirona.

Then I remembered something. Something that made my head snap forward. I ignored the huge crack it made beside the fact that it sent waves of pain down my neck.

I had left my backpack at my house, I realized.

Damn!

This was bad. If I went to go get it, I would have to meet her again. So, I should just let Reiji deliver it. But, if he did, he'd find out about Hikari.

This was bad. He'd never stop teasing me, even _after _she was gone.

"Damn." I swore under my breath and I started running toward the apartment. This just wasn't my day.

Or year.

This was proof that God didn't love me. Was I really that fun to tease. Was it a fun thing to torture me? Or was this just punishment for being mean to my neighbor when I was young?

I reached the apartment and raced to my room. Maybe, just maybe. Reiji decided not to come and instead just decided to stay at his house and just wait until Shirona was gone and would call me.

Or not.

I opened the door and saw the worst scene of my life.

Reiji and Hikari were having a drink together in the kitchen.

"Shinji!" Reiji cried in surprise when he spotted me. Hikari turned around and smiled, "You never told me you had a brother Shinji." She said.

"And you never told me you had a roommate." Reiji said, winking at me, "And a cute one at that." This comment almost caused me to hurl. I didn't want to know what his dirty mind was thinking right at this moment.

"Oh, Reiji." she giggled, "You're making me blush."

Yup.

God _definitely_ hated me.

**AN. A really long one coming up.**

**First. I'm just going to say, Reiji character was practically created by me. And I'm kind of relying on other fanfics of Reiji too. I created him a kind of motherly character. Poor Reiji. He needs to take all the responsibilities for a mother. Including the questions. That's why I put in the girl talk. But sometimes he slips into his "sibling love" aka being mean as shown by him saying "What kind of stupid question is that?" I didn't put much research into it. And Shirona. This story isn't really planned out, so I kind of just made something up on the spot. And the question Shinji asked. You could say that he was totally out of character, but I think all boys would be traumatized if a girl mistook them for her mom. I know I would be. I don't know who Shirona is usually paired up with so I need help on this part. No one **_**has**_** to tell me. I could just search. But I'm feeling unusually lazy. And sorry for the late update. Whenever I had time on the computer I didn't feel like writing and when I did, my brother was on. So I made this deal that if I got him a cup of water he would let me be on the computer for the whole day today (Rip off! But he was feeling kind that day.) And then I would've finished earlier, yet some friends came over. So…. **

**And just saying. I really don't think you should be expecting the next chapter soon.**

**Kahmelion**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Hikari's POV**

I didn't know Shinji had a brother.

But then again, I hadn't really known Shinji until just yesterday.

I didn't think him as a social type so I was mighty surprised when someone knocked on the door and asked for him. It seemed like he was pretty surprised to see me there as well. He had almost went for the next door when he saw me.

"No! Shinji does live here." I called out.

He came back to his original position with a weird look on his face.

"Really?" He asked, "Because, he never told me he was going to be living with someone." "Yeah." I said sheepishly, "It was a bit unexpected."

"Hmm." He said thoughtfully, "Well, I'm just here to deliver his backpack." "Backpack?" I asked. "Yes." He said cheerfully, "He visited just an hour ago and left this. I was assuming he'd be back by now." I merely shrugged.

"Well," He said after a little silence, "I best be going now." He turned and headed for the stairs.

"Wait!" I called, "Why don't you stay for a bit. It's extremely hot right now, and it seems like you had to walk for quite a bit." He turned to face me with a thoughtful expression. "That does seem like a good idea." He said, "Okay."

He walked in, looking around as I closed the door behind him.

"Please," I said, "make yourself comfortable." "Oh, thank you." He said sitting on the couch where Shinji usually sat as I headed toward the kitchen to brew some tea.

His eyes still wandered around the room and I couldn't help but ask, "Excuse me, but, who are you?" He looked startled.

"Oh, I'm Reiji. Shinji's older brother." He answered with a bright smile.

"Br- brother?" I stuttered, overflowing the teapot with water.

"Yes." He said, the smile still on his face, but it changed into a confused look when he asked, "And you might you be?"

"I'm Hikari Toyoguchi." I answered, shutting the water off, "I go to the same school as Shinji, but, we've never met before this incident."

I put the teapot on the stove and heated it up.

"I'm sorry, but, I was just wondering why Shinji decided to live on his own." Oh, God. Me and my big mouth. Now I was prying into someone else's business.

He looked a bit shocked when I asked him and I covered my mouth and kept apologizing over and over again.

He smiled and said, "No, it's okay. It's not very personal. I like telling stories about Shinji anyways."

He moved and sat on one of the dining table chairs.

"Where to begin?" He asked, tapping his chin thoughtfully, "Well, I guess you could say, he has this love problem."

Love problems? Wasn't this extremely personal? Why was he telling me this stuff?

"L- love problem?" I stuttered, feeling stupid.

"Yes." He said with another blinding smile, "He had a childhood friend named Shirona. He'll never admit it, but she was a bit like a body guard to him."

I sat in the chair across from him to hear this story. 'Might as well listen.' I thought to myself. The guy was practically shoving it in my face. Although part of it was my fault.

"Shirona's just a few years younger than me," He continued, "And Shinji grew terribly close to her. Then when he got into Junior High. I guess you could say, he saw her as a woman from than on.

I choked on my own saliva.

Somehow, seeing Shinji with raging teenage hormones was something you just couldn't imagine without being on the verge of suffocation.

"Shirona knew of course." He said, "But, she didn't want to hurt him. He was still a boy and all. So she thought that maybe if she just left he'd forget her. So she packed up in one day and left for America. Shinji might not have shown it, but he was left a bit broken. Even if she wasn't really the 'love- of- his- life' kind of person. She's been there for him since he was very young."

"So she just moved away and never came back?" I asked.

"No." He answered, "She came back. Just this month actually. I honestly thought that Shinji would be at least a bit happy. It's been three years after all."

Three years!

No wonder he's so grumpy all the time.

The one person he ever liked dumped him and suddenly comes back. Did Reiji even get how his brother was feeling?

"And now she's getting married in late spring." He said happily, "We're invited to the wedding of course."

And now she's getting married?!

Reiji really was making me get a wrong impression of her.

"And when I tell him all this, he wants to move out." Reiji said, "It's very unusual. Usually, when there's something upsetting him, he usually faces it head- on."

Well, love was kind of different than other problems.

"I was kind of hoping that he would get over it when he accidentally met her today." He mused, "But he just walked out the door! I get why. It's not everyday that he gets dumped by someone."

I snorted.

"You should see him at school." I scoffed, "Girls drool over him. Gives them the cold shoulder every time." The teapot whistled and I got up to get the cups and teabags.

"I wish." He said sadly, "Shinji really doesn't talk much about school. He doesn't really say anything to me anymore." "Really?" I asked as I poured the water, "That's pretty hard to believe. He's been shouting insults at me ever since we started living together."

Reiji scowled, "I thought I taught him better manners than that."

"He always acts like he's all high and mighty." I said angrily, practically throwing the teabags which made the water in the cup splatter onto my hand which made me hiss.

"High and might, huh?" Reiji asked in an amused tone, "He wasn't always like that. I remember when he was just five he came home exactly half of his body muddy. When I asked him what happened, he told me he was walking on a brick wall when he accidentally lost his balance and fell sideways in the mud."

I snickered.

I'd have to use that one against him sometime.

"Thank you." Reiji said, taking the tea I was offering, "He was so innocent back then, always sneaking into my room at night because he was scared of the monsters under his bed."

I snorted into my tea.

He looked startled at the sudden outburst but helped me clean myself up.

When he resumed back to his position, he was just about to say something when the door slammed open and Shinji (looking rather urgent) glared at both of us.

"Shinji!" Reiji called out in surprise.

Since I was sitting with my back against the door, I turned around and smiled sweetly at him and said, "You never told me you had a brother Shinji."

"And you never told me you had a roommate." Reiji said, I could see that he was winking at him, "And a cute one at that."

That was comment I'd usually snort at, but just for the heck of it, I giggled, "Oh Reiji, you're making me blush."

He rolled his eyes and glared at his older brother.

"You." He said, "Get out of here, and you." He glared at me now, "Go clean the bathroom."

I dropped the girly act and asked, "Excuse me?" "You heard right." He said, "You made it, you're cleaning it."

If I hadn't known what he was talking about, I would've been terribly disturbed, but since I knew, and it would be pretty bad if it wasn't cleaned out soon.

"What am I supposed to clean it with?" I asked. "I don't know." He said, "Just clean it, 'cause I'm not going in there 'till you do. Use your toothbrush or something."

"Sure I'll use your toothbrush." I said, smiling haughtily, trying to make my anger not show.

"Don't we have a toilet scrubber or something?" He asked rather rudely. "I'll check." I sniffed.

What a meany!

There indeed was a toilet scrubber. It had been in the cupboard and it wasn't very long when I had it all cleaned up.

And, God had it been disgusting.

I never wanted to experience anything like that again! Remind me to regurgitate in a trash bin next time.

When I staggered slightly out of the doorway (I'd been bent over the whole time, and my legs were sleeping) Reiji was gone and Shinji was nowhere in sight.

Probably in bed by now. Since it was so late, I realized as I checked the clock.

I sighed as I realized how tired I was and grudgingly changed into a pair of pink pajamas.

I flopped down on the bed, snuggled into my blanket and drifted off to sleep.

I woke up with a jerk the next morning.

I had woken up earlier than I thought.

And still in my pajamas, I headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. Shinji still wasn't awake. I wasn't really affected by that until I heard a knock on the door.

I opened the door. I was kind of hoping it was Reiji again since he seemed to have a tendency to get Shinji annoyed. And it was kind of fun to see him be mean to anyone other than her. Sorry. That was a bit mean. I really did enjoy his company.

But standing on the other side of the door was none other than Haruka.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed.

She looked taken aback at how I greeted her but said in a cheery voice, "Good morning! I just thought since it was the first day of Summer break, I could hang over here."

I was about to tell her to go away when I remembered Shinji was asleep.

I could just make breakfast, change and hurry out with Haruka before he was awake.

I sighed.

"Okay. Come in."

She squealed in delight and practically skipped in.

"But we're leaving as soon as I eat breakfast and get ready. Got it?" I said in a slightly threatening voice. "Why?" She whined loudly. "Shhhh!" I shushed loudly, "Be quiet. Most people are still sleeping at this time and these walls are as thin as cardboard."

She tilted her head with a confused expression.

"But it's only six." She said quietly.

I ignored her and asked instead, as I headed toward the kitchen to make breakfast, "So how was Kasumi?" "Seems she sprained her foot while diving." Haruka said, "She just needed to rest for a day. It looked really bad. I don't really blame her for not coming to school that day."

"Oh." I said, "I hope she's okay." "She is." Haruka answered, "God Hikari. I didn't know you had so many books." "What?" I snapped. "And on medical stuff too." She mused, sounding impressed, "I didn't know you wanted to go into the medical profession."

I stopped flipping the fried rice I was in the middle of making and looked at the books Haruka were talking about.

She was flipping through a rather thick book about cells and in front of her was a big shelf full of books.

When had that been there? It's so big! I should've noticed it sooner!

I couldn't let Haruka know that Shinji was living with me, if she knew, she would flip! And everyone knew that Haruka couldn't keep a secret! This would be bad.

"Uh, yeah!" I said rather unconvincingly, "Medical stuff always fascinated me."

I turned back to flipping over the rice until it was done.

And I got out two plates and divided the rice in half.

I quickly ate my half, changed, brushed my teeth, combed my hair etc.

And soon, I was ready as hell to get out of here. It looked like Shinji would be up any second and I did not want to see his reaction if he found out that Haruka was here.

"Well, I'm ready." I said, "Better go."

"Oh, but I want to see more." She whined, "And why are is there another plate of fried rice on the table?" "Because I'm saving it." I said firmly, "Now let's go."

"Hey!" She cried, "There are two rooms! Can I see?" "Shh!" I repeated, "I told you not to be so loud! And no!"

She sighed and said, "Fine, let's go."

I sighed in relief.

Then there was another knock on the door. And suddenly, I wanted to scream as loud as I could.

I breathed in slowly and released all the air out.

I calmly walked over to the door and opened it.

There, stood a gorgeous woman with blonde hair at least down to her knees wearing a very fashionable coat with black pants.

She smiled at me and said, "Hello. I'm here to see Shinji."

"Shinji?" Haruka immediately questioned.

Momentarily stunned by how pretty she was, I hesitantly said, "He's sleeping in his room." "Say what?" Haruka asked.

"Thank you." She said, flashing us a brilliant smile. And I moved so she could get a clear path to his room. I didn't even think about stopping her. Since she knew Shinji, I guess that would be okay, but then I remembered Haruka.

Oh no.

She cleared her throat to make sure I had her attention and asked, "Shinji?" I gulped soundlessly and instead of answering, followed the lady.

She knocked politely first, but when no one answered, she knocked for a second time. Still no answer, so she quietly opened the door and I saw her smile slightly as she saw him sleeping.

I could see why.

Shinji looked pretty cute when sleeping. He didn't look like he was mad, like most of the time.

Then suddenly.

"WAKE UP!!" She screamed, kicking him off the bed, losing all composure she had just a minute ago. "My God." I heard Haruka say under her breath as she saw what happened.

Shinji sat up from the ground, rubbing his head. He looked up, about to say something, but when he saw who it was, his eyes widened and he said softly, "Shirona."

My eyes widened at her name. She was Shirona?

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!" She kept screaming, "DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I'VE BEEN?! YOU SUDDENLY MOVE OUT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING TO ME! THEN YESTERDAY!… UGH!"

"Huh," He scoffed, "Remind you of anyone?"

"SHUT UP!" Shirona screamed, "IF REIJI HADN'T TOLD ME!…YOU'RE GOING BACK HOME RIGHT NOW!"

She grabbed his arm and dragged him out of his room, completely ignoring his protests.

Shinji pulled his arm away and crossed them.

"Keh." He said, "Who said?"

I heard Shirona growl under her breath. Wow, she had it worse than me. And although I was surprised at the scene before me, I was even more surprised at how Shinji was acting. He was acting like a little kid! Excuse me, a spoiled little kid.

"There's a reason why I left you know." He said softly.

Just then, I saw a flicker of hurt cross Shirona's face, and then completely emotionless.

"I see." She said calmly, heading towards the door, "I'm sorry for interrupting all of your mornings." And she headed out the door.

"God." I said under my breath, "Is that really how you express your attraction to someone?" "Ch." He said, "I'm going back to bed." Then he stopped for a moment, and turned to give me a menacing glare. "You broke rule four." Then he slammed the door behind him.

"Who was that?" Haruka asked. I'd almost forgotten she was there, "And more importantly, why are you living with Shinji Ikari?"

"Long story." I sighed. "I've heard of that excuse before." She said waving her hand, "You have to tell me at some point."

"How about during a nice cup of tea at a nearby café?" I asked, smiling sickeningly sweetly.

She smiled at me back.

"Why not?"

So we headed to the café where I launched into the story. It was a bit ironic really, how we'd only been living together for two days, yet I had so much to tell.

I made sure Haruka and I had plans for the whole day, and we even arranged a sleepover at her place.

That could buy me more time.

Because I sure wasn't looking forward to going back.

**AN. Sorry. I lied. This chapter came pretty soon. Sooner than I thought. I'm trying to stay awake for the whole night because I've been getting really nocturnal lately. And I'm hoping that maybe I'll get really tired tonight and sleep at, like, ten or something. I forgot to mention it in my last authors note, but Shirona is **_**way**_** out of character. But, if I kept her in character, it would be really hard to write this story, and being the lazy author I am, I'm going to go the easy way. I don't know when I'll be able to update again because my cousin and aunt are coming to visit and I don't really want him to read everything I have. He doesn't like reading, or Pokemon, he'd just keep making fun of me. And, I'm extremely tired of the computer. I'm going to play outside **_**all**_** day tomorrow and the next day. I would write at night, but the computer just **_**happens**_** to be in the Guest Room. Sorry. For those of you who care at least. Sorry if this chapter sucked, I'm really sleepy, but I want to sleep at the right time, not at three in the morning like I usually do, cause then I'd wake up at noon. Now, I'm going to watch T.V. until sunrise then take a bath. Happy reading!**

**Kahmelion**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Surprisingly, Haruka didn't ask many questions after I spilled my guts out to her.

Then again, she wasn't really interested in Shinji. Didn't mean she wasn't going to spill the beans at some point. I was going to have to keep tabs on her at all times when we got back to school.

I stared at her suspiciously as another plush doll caught her attention.

"Isn't it cute, Hikari?" She asked, turning to me for my opinion, "What?" She had finally noticed that I was staring at her.

"Well, remember that one incident with that one guy who was dating two girls?" I asked, pacing around innocently. "Yes." She said slowly. "How do you think everyone in the school knew when the only person that caught him was you?" "It was a slip?" She chuckled nervously. "How many more slips, do you think, will happen with this secret?" I asked her.

"Don't worry." She said, all the tension washing off her in an instant, "I won't give away your little secret." "That's what they all say." I muttered. "Now loosen up a bit and have fun! It's Summer Break!" She said, sitting on a nearby bench with a relaxed sigh.

I wasn't going to believe her when she said she wasn't going to say anything, but, she was right. It was Summer Break. So I took her advice.

It was considerably cooler than yesterday so I wasn't going to faint on Haruka anytime soon so we decided to head to Kasumi's house. Since I didn't get to check on her.

Though it wasn't as hot. It was still hot. Which meant that by the time we got to her house, we were sweaty and disgusting. Which earned us quite a few rude laughs from our dear friend Kasumi.

"You should wash your face, Haruka." Kasumi said, her face right in front of Haruka's, "It's all red." So she got up and headed toward her bathroom.

"It must be nice to live all by yourself, huh?" Kasumi asked. "Uh, yeah. I guess." I lied. My eyes darting around nervously. "I can't do anything with this stupid foot." She sighed, "My sisters just make me stay in bed all day."

"Yeah, well that's what happens when you sprain something you walk on." I said, rolling my eyes, "Especially your condition, it looks like a blue toad." "Wow, that makes me feel better." Kasumi said.

Then Haruka burst through the door, looking all excited.

"Kasumi! Guess what!? You know about Hikari's apartment? Well, she's li-…" I had clamped my hand over her mouth just in time. And after she had promised that she wouldn't tell anyone.

"She's what?" Kasumi asked, curiosity in her eyes.

"I like medical stuff, I'm going into medical profession." I lied, remembering this morning. "Are you sure?" Kasumi asked. "Why would I not be?" I asked, chuckling nervously. "Because your hand is over Haruka, obviously she was trying to say something and you just stopped her and made up a lie."

"Because I wanted to tell you the news. Haruka, didn't I tell you I wanted to tell Kasumi?" I fake- scolded. Surprisingly, my voice didn't waver, and for a moment, I almost convinced myself, as I found my reasoning so logical.

I pulled my hand away from Haruka when I made sure she got what I was saying.

"But don't you get extremely bad grades at school?" Kasumi asked. I froze with and turned to her with an innocent smile. "What do you possibly mean?" I asked.

"I've seen your report card." She scoffed, "It's all Cs and Ds. And half the time you don't listen to what the teacher says. That's why you're always borrowing Haruka's notes. I might be clueless about all the couples and trends around the school, but I'm not stupid. If you keep those grades up, you'll never become a doctor."

Suddenly, I felt a thousand pound weight hit my head.

Kasumi wasn't only implying that I wasn't going to get my "dream occupation" in the future, she was also talking about my intelligence. Who was she to call me stupid?!

"Oh yeah!?" I raged, standing up, "I bet that by the end of this year, I can make the top ten students in the whole school, get into the college I choose for, and get into the Medical department!"

"That'd take more than the end of the year." Haruka said quietly.

"I bet I can anyways!" I said, pointing at Kasumi, who was smirking.

"What are we betting?" Kasumi asked with a grin. "A pink diamond." I responded immediately, "Whoever loses buy the other person a pink diamond." What!? A voice somewhere in my head shouted at me, You're willing to take the rest of the year to study your butt off **and** get a job that both of us know you don't want over something as stupid as that?!

What could I say?

My intellect was a soft spot. I couldn't stand it if someone made a smart remark about my intelligence.

"A long- time bet?" She said thoughtfully with an evil glint in her eye, "You're on!" She stuck out her hand so we could shake on it, but retracted and asked in a suspicious voice, "We're not going back on this are we?"

Say no! The voice in my head shouted at me.

Instead, I looked at her like she was crazy and said, "Of course not!"

She grinned menacingly and stuck her hand back out. I took it looked at her fiercely as we shook. I could practically feel the sparks flying between us.

"C'mon Haruka!" I said, grabbing her hand as soon as Kasumi and I stopped shaking, "We've got a lot of studying to do."

I dragged her out the door and we ran into Kasumi's sisters.

"Wha-?" I heard one of them cry out in shock. "Sorry! Got to go!" I shouted back. I kept on running, fury making adrenaline pulse through my veins.

As soon as I had calmed down, realization washed over me. A lot of realizations. Like how stupid that bet was, how I was going to make the top ten students of the school by the end of the school, getting into the college of my choice was definitely out of my league, why I was going to learn about medicine, and why had I bet all that for a diamond?

An extremely expensive diamond.

I groaned. "What am I going to do?" I asked. "I was trying to tell you it was stupid idea." A voice behind me huffed, "But, no. I keep telling you when you get mad you should just keep your big mouth shut because you don't know what stupid things might happen." I turned around. I'd almost forgotten I had been dragging Haruka around.

"And now, in the end, you're going to have to buy Kasumi a pink diamond!" She raged, putting both hands on her hips.

Then an idea popped into my head.

"I might not lose." I said, "If I have you tutor me!" "Excuse me?!" She exclaimed. "Yeah!" I said grasping both her hands, "You're one of the top ten students in school! You can tutor me!" "Actually, I'm not." She muttered, "I'm eleventh. And I was so close too!"

"But that's close to tenth!" I said desperately, "Please!" I didn't know what I was doing with my eyes, but I hoped it gained her sympathy.

"Uh." Haruka stuttered, "Wow! Look at the time!" "You don't have a watch." I pointed out. "I totally forgot that I was supposed to, um… Help my mom make cheese." She said ignoring me. "You're mom doesn't make cheese." I said, trying to corner her, though I knew in the end she wouldn't help me. "She does now!" She escaped my grasp and ran towards the direction of her house.

"Bye Hikari!" She shouted waving at me, while still running, "I'll see you tomorrow!"

I sighed dejectedly and sat on a nearby bench.

"They say friends got your back." I muttered, "Mine stab me in the back." I slumped back into the bench and said, "I feel like the dumbest person in the world."

"Why?" I heard someone ask. My head snapped forward and I saw the same blonde- haired beauty that I had seen this morning.

"Shirona?" I exclaimed. "Oh, so you do know my name." She said with a calm smile, "I'm sorry, but I don't remember yours." I immediately stood up. "Sorry, I've never introduced myself." I said, "I'm Hikari Toyoguchi, you met me this morning."

"Yes, I know. Reiji also told me about you. How you're Shinji's new roommate." Shirona said, sitting down, "I'm sorry about that. I guess I was a bit angry about how Shinji treated me when we last met. I can't say it's totally his fault though."

I wanted to agree with her, but the look on her face told me she was truly guilty.

"Well, seeing how he acts, I'm not surprised you left." I said, trying to lighten up the mood. It worked, and she laughed lightly.

"Yes, Shinji has a tendency to act like that around people he's comfortable with." She said. "Only with people he's comfortable with?" I asked, disbelief showing.

"He must really like you." She said with another smile.

I blushed. He was such a jerk. 'Really like me.' Yeah right.

"We've only been living with each other for two days." I said, "I'm not even comfortable with the apartment yet." "A lot can happen in two days." She said, gazing at the sunset, does the day usually go by so quickly? "I managed to move in one."

There was a pause before, randomly, she said, "It's practically because of Shinji that I managed to meet Daigo." "Daigo?" I asked. "My fiancée." She answered, "I moved to America for two reasons, trying to get Shinji to forget me, and because a college had accepted me. I was aiming to be an animal trainer, you see."

I was shocked. Why would someone as pretty as her aim to be an animal trainer? She saw the look on my face and chuckled. "I certainly don't seem the type, don't I?" She said, "I was going to be a veterinarian first, but when I saw a puppy being kicked out because he was too much to handle one day. I changed my mind.

"I thought to myself, 'If only animals were trained properly, they wouldn't be such a handful.' So I headed to America where they gave me an offer I couldn't resist." I looked away from her and stared as the sun slowly dropped out of sight.

"Then I met Daigo." She continued, "He's also Japanese, but his hometown is Tokusane City. I came back so I could plan the wedding with a few friends of mine. I didn't know my leaving had hit Shinji that hard. I was actually going to let him keep his crush on me, but, if he was really willing to move out and balance two jobs, I might as well drag him home."

"You're very welcome to." I said instantly, "Because, I'm sure he misses you deep inside and wants to spend more time with you and stuff." "But after seeing that he's living with someone, I guess I'll let him get over it slowly." She said with a sad smile, "I'm sorry if I disappointed you."

I sighed.

"It's okay I guess." I said, "I'll just spend the rest of the school year with a complete stranger." "He won't be a stranger once you get to know him." Shirona said, "And when you live together, you can't help but get closer. So I'm sure you'll get used to him."

"Heh, I don't think I'll ever get used to him." I chuckled. "You'll be surprised." Shirona said standing up, "I hope you two will be happy. Now, I really must be going. I'm sorry for taking so much of your time."

"Oh, no." I said, standing up also, "Thank you for taking the time to talk to- Wait. What's that supposed to mean!?"

But she was already too far away to hear me. She walked extremely fast. Faster than I had expected.

And once again, I found myself blushing furiously to what she had said.

Exactly what was she implying when she said that she hoped we'd be happy. Surely she didn't mean we'd ending up living together. For the rest of our lives. The guy wasn't anything to me but a burden. Maybe I wouldn't mind living with him if he did at least one little favor for me.

That's about when it hit me.

I raced back to the apartment, totally forgetting about the supposed "punishment" waiting for me when I got there and hurriedly unlocked the door, opened it and called out, "Shinji?"

When no one answered, I assumed he was probably out. Most likely work. I didn't even know he was balancing out two jobs either.

Being the "kind" person I was, I decided I'd make things easier for him when he got back and started on dinner.

I pondered on what to make him. Might as well go with one of my favorite dishes. Nothing could go wrong with curry."

As I was making dinner. I couldn't help but ponder at what Shirona had told me. 'To be happy.' Exactly how were we supposed to be happy by living in the same room when we hate each other guts? I asked myself.

Which brought me to the other statement she had said. 'Shinji has a tendency to act like that around people he's comfortable with. He must really like you.' I scoffed at it again.

Though it really made you think didn't it? People do say that boys are mean to the girls they like. Though I couldn't really put my finger on Shinji. He was mean to everyone he met. So I just let the subject drop.

Since I was done with dinner and Shinji still wasn't back yet, I decided I'd just eat my half and go into my room and do my Summer work. Though I couldn't really do it without someone's help.

"I'm back." Shinji drawled while I was washing my dish. "Oh, dinner's on the table." I said as I dried my hands on a towel. "I know, I'm not blind." He said, sitting down and turning the television on. I puffed out my cheeks. Well, he didn't need to point it out so rudely.

I just stood there nervously as he ate. "What?" He asked, looking at me through the corner of his eye. "Oh, you know, just waiting for you to blow up at me." I said, "Kick me out of the room or something. Because I broke rule four."

"I wouldn't kick you out of the room, are you crazy?" He asked, returning his attention back to the television, "I might be cold and heartless but I'm not evil." Weren't they the same thing? But none the less, what he'd done had made me slightly change my mind about him. Maybe he wasn't that bad.

"Anyways, who else is going to cook for me?" He added. And suddenly, I had the urge to kick something. Instead, I picked up one of the plates and dropped them on the floor. On purpose of course. The shattering noise always comforted me.

He looked at the mess on the floor and said, "I'm not cleaning that up." Then he went back to eating.

Now I knew for sure, he had no purpose in my life what so ever.

Then I remembered the idea I had.

"Um. Shinji?" I asked. "What?" He asked rudely. "You're smart, right?" I asked, sounding like an utter moron. "I might be." He said. "Be quiet." I snapped, "I've seen your freakishly thick books. I know you're smart." "So?" He asked. "Do you think you can… tutor me?" I asked, my voice quiet again.

He stopped eating and looked at me with a weird look. "What?" He asked. I sighed, "You know, teach me." "What subject?" He asked. "Um. Everything?" I said, coming out as a question.

"Let me think about it." He said, "No." And he resumed eating.

I stomped my foot.

"And why not?" I huffed. "Because you broke rule four." He said. "But you said-" I started. "I didn't say you were off the hook." He said, standing up with his empty dish, "And I wouldn't tutor you even if you didn't break any rules."

He placed the dish into the sink and headed to his room.

"That's a shame." I said with an idea. Thank you so much Reiji, "Did you know that no one in school knows that when you were young, you used to think there were monsters under your bed?" I couldn't believe that it was coming down to this. And after all this time, I thought he'd be the one black- mailing me everyday.

"How do you know that?" He asked quietly. "So you admit that you believed in the monsters under the bed at some point." I said, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Reiji." He muttered menacingly.

"I guess…" He started, "A few lessons won't hurt." He sighed. "Now, stop bothering me. God, what an annoying girl." He muttered, and he went into his room and shut the door behind him.

"Well, at least I don't have purple hair!" I shouted at him randomly.

When he didn't answer. I let out a frustrated growl and started kicking the door non- stop, imagining it was him.

He opened the door and gave me a glare so frightening, I felt like I was the size of an ant as all anger fell of me and I squeaked, "Sorry." He closed the door again and I went into my own room and tried to do my Summer work. Though I knew I wouldn't be able to do it. I had to try.

"Okay." I said out loud, "It's okay, Hikari. You can do this. No matter what dumb ole Kasumi says. If you put your mind to it, you can do anything!"

Sad to say, I slept that night with nothing accomplished.

**AN. I was surprised that my relatives left so early. So I started on this chapter at around ten in the morning. Right now is nine pm. I disappoint myself. Usually It takes about two hours, but like I said, I'm nocturnal. I forgot to say in my last chapter that Hikari's last name is the Japanese actor's last name. I didn't know who to pair up Shirona up with, I was just going to make up someone, then my brother goes, "Hey! I beat Steven!" And I thought it'd go great. They're both champions. So it's like that. I'm trying to hurry up and finish this story because I have this idea, and it's nagging me. Since it's going to be a long time before I finish if I write each day out, I'm going to skip sometimes, so if something doesn't make sense, sorry.**

**Kahmelion**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**

**Two Weeks Later**

I flopped down on my bed, exhausted. These last two weeks of studying had been hell. Especially with Shinji tutoring me.

If I got an answer wrong, "No you stupid girl! How is it that my dog can figure stuff like this yet, you can't do it?! Do it over again!" Since _when _exactly had he gotten a dog? When I got an answer right, "Are you kidding?! A kindergartener could do that. That's not impressive at all!" A kindergartener would certainly _not_ be able to figure out algebra two. What was he talking about?

I'd finally done all my summer work. Which gives me one week to spend the rest of my summer with no education. I was so happy!

I picked up my phone to call Haruka and Kasumi, tomorrow we'd have a girl's day out (since Kasumi's foot was feeling a bit better.)

"Hi Hikari." Haruka greeted even before I told her who I was, "Done with summer work yet?" "Yep!" I said proudly, "And for sure I've got A's." "I told you that Shinji tutoring you would pay off at the end." She said smugly. It was true. Through the two weeks he'd been insulting me, I had complained a lot to Haruka. Not Kasumi because I wasn't going to tell her how well my studies were going.

"He's one of the top three students anyways," She added, "You're lucky that you live with him." 'More lucky that Reiji came to visit me that day.' I thought. "So since I was free, I was wondering if tomorrow we could-" I started. "Stay at your house?" Haruka interrupted hopefully.

"No!" I exclaimed, "Kasumi's coming too, and I can't have her know about how Shinji and I are living together. I just wanted to shop at the department store. And eat somewhere nice and generally go somewhere that doesn't remind me of Shinji."

"Well, okay…" Haruka said slowly, "I'll pick you up at your apartment and we'll got to pick up Kasumi together." "What's with you and my apartment!?" I shouted. "Sorry," she said, sounding hurt, "I just like it." I sighed.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, "Let's just meet in front of the department store. Okay?" "Sure." Haruka said, regaining her cheerfulness, "Though I feel sorry for Satoshi. We haven't really been visiting him as often as Kasumi. And most of the time it's just the two of us."

"Don't worry." I said, "Satoshi has a ton of friends, he'd be out with one of them." "Like?…" She asked. "I don't know." I said, "Boys aren't really one of my many interests. Unlike you. That reminds me, have you still been thinking about Shuu?"

I could practically see her blushing as she stuttered, "N-no. I've been focusing on my studies. I want to get into a good university and being eleventh doesn't help. I need to be in the top ten."

"Isn't Shuu in the top ten?" I asked. "Yes, he is." Haruka said, "He's ninth on the chart. Well, it's getting late, and if we're going to have fun, might as well get up early. How about we meet at around eight?" "Why not?" I said, "See you tomorrow." And I heard the phone click as Haruka hung up.

I started dialing Kasumi.

I heard the phone ring a few times before she picked up and said, "Doing well in your studies, Hikari?" "How do you two do it?" I asked. "Do what?" she asked in a confused tone. "Know who it is before being greeted?" "Caller ID." Kasumi answered, "Apparently, one of Sakura's friends had one and she just _had_ to get one."

"Well, that's Sakura." I said. "So how _are _your studies going?" "Great!" I exclaimed happily. "Summer homework is finally done and I'm sure I'm getting A's on all of them." "Finally got a good tutor?" She asked. "Only the best." I said, "Though all he does is call me names."

"Really?" She asked, "Who is it?"

I instantly realized my mistake.

"O- oh," I stuttered, "Some guy next door. He goes to one of our sister schools." "Our school only has one sister school and it's all- girls." She said in a matter- of- fact tone.

"And you know this stuff, how?" I asked. "I do my research." She said.

"Well, all I know is that he's really smart, and that's all I need to know." I said. "So why are you calling again?" She asked. "Well, since your sisters are letting you get around now, why not meet Haruka and me in front of the Department Store tomorrow at eight?"

"Eight!?" She exclaimed, "It's Summer Break! I shouldn't be awake until at least eleven or something!" "You wake up at eleven?" I asked in disbelief. "Why not?" She asked, "I sleep really late too."

"So are you going to meet us or not?" I asked. "Okay." She said, "What about Satoshi?" "Haruka and I decided it'd be all girls." I said, "Anyways, with Satoshi the mood would be ruined." "The mood?" She asked curiously. "You know." I said, "If we were joking about guys, he'd say something we really didn't need to know. Guys are like that."

"Okay." She said. What was that I heard in her voice? "I'll meet you at eight." She continued, "Tomorrow better be worth it." And she hung up.

I sighed sleepily and changed into my pajamas. Tomorrow was going to be perfect. I was done with all work I had to do, and it'd just be me, Kasumi, and Haruka.

I flopped down on my bed and went to sleep without even putting on the covers.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

My head pounded when I sat up in the morning.

And why was it so cold? I glanced down at myself and swore in my head. I hadn't put the blankets over me last night. I also realized that I hadn't set my alarm yesterday night.

I glance over at my digital clock and it read 7:55.

I threw my legs over the bed and stood up quickly which made the pounding in my head grow bigger. My head felt like it had gained weight. I decided it'd be best if I called Kasumi's cell phone (since Haruka still didn't have one yet) and tell her I'd be late. Really late. Considering I still had to cook breakfast.

So I fell back on my bed and dialed Kasumi's cell phone and as soon as she picked up she started saying stuff like, "Why aren't you here?" and "We thought you'd be the first one here since you were so excited about it!"

"Sorry." I said, my voice sounding hoarse and croaky. "Are you all right?" Kasumi asked, suddenly sounding worried, "You don't sound too good." "I'm fine." I said, trying again after clearing my throat. It was a bit better but in the end I sounded like a toad.

"You don't sound fine." Kasumi said, "I think you should stay there. We'll be right there to take care of you." "No!" I shouted, which was the wrong thing to do, since I started coughing non- stop, "Don't worry, I can take care of myself. You don't need to come, just continue your day without me."

"But you sound so bad." She argued, "There's no way you can walk around taking care of yourself when you sound like that. I'm coming over." "You can barely walk around yourself." I said, "Don't worry about me."

"Well, if you're so sure." She said, sounding reluctant. "Yep!" I said, trying to sound the best I could, "Hikari Toyoguchi can never not do anything!" Kasumi chuckled. "Okay." She said, "But if you need anything, just call…" "Yeah, yeah." I said, "Just go have fun. Hey, now you can invite Satoshi!"

Her voice sounded happier when she exclaimed, "Yeah! I'll do that. Hey, I'm really sorry about you getting sick. Maybe next time." And she hung up. I sighed as I hung up as well. She was knee- deep into him, there was no turning back now.

I wanted to stay in bed, but, I had to make breakfast for the jerk that was sleeping in the room next to mine. And if he found out that I had stayed in bed and neglected my chores because of a tiny cold, he'd probably nag me to no end.

So I stood up once again and headed for the kitchen.

I thought about what to make, but my head hurt from all the thinking so I just decided on eggs. It was simple and I wouldn't need to stand up for a very long time, as it was causing my head to spin.

When the eggs were done, I went to get plates.

Since the plates were somewhere high, and looking up was making my head hurt worse, I lay down my head on the counter and reached out my arms. The shelf couldn't be that high, could it?

The counter felt nice and cool under my hot skin, and soon I didn't know what I was doing with my hand.

"What are you doing Annoying Girl?" I heard Shinji's annoying voice behind me. "Trying to find plates," I retorted, "like I usually do in the morning." "Could've fooled me." He said.

I lifted my head up just in time to see him putting the eggs on the each plate.

"I can do it." I said, trying to sound angry, "I'm not a baby."

I pulled myself up with the counter as support, but he took my arm and pulled me so that his forehead touched mine. And suddenly, I didn't know why my face was so red. "Are you stupid?" He asked, "If you have a fever that bad, you have to stay in bed!"

He dragged me into my room without much effort, since I didn't really have the strength to fight back.

"Bed." He said firmly as he pointed at mine. I sighed in defeat and crawled in. I can't say that I didn't like it, but I sure wasn't liking how Shinji was treating me at the moment. "And stay there." He said, "Seriously, this is the second time you got sick in one month."

"Who said you had to take care of me?" I croaked, "Why do you care?" He stopped at the door. "My mom died because of a fever." He said quietly. "Oh." I said, realizing what I'd brought up, "Sorry." "Don't be." He said. And he walked out the door.

I puffed out my cheeks. What was he? Bipolar? Suddenly being nice to me like that. He had given me quite a shock. Especially with that stunt he pulled. Had he even realized how close his face was to mine. He was just lucky I had no energy at the time.

I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment. I had felt his breath on my face, he was so close.

Slowly, my arms dropped to my side and my eye-lids drooped and I couldn't help but sleep a dreamless sleep.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

I slowly lifted myself up so I could sit up. My head was feeling considerably better and the spinning had stopped. I wasn't as cold as I had been when I had been this morning. Which made me look at the clock.

I gaped at the time. How could it be 7:32? I was asleep _that_ long? I glanced at the window which clearly showed the setting sun, it's rays glinting off the window.

I turned back to the clock and spotted something that I hadn't noticed. It was a tray with water, medicine, and food. As much as I hated to admit, it was pretty sweet of Shinji to do this for me. But wait. Why was the food… Black?

I leaned over to sniff it and ashes practically flew up my nose. He expected me to eat _that_? No thanks. I'd just call Haruka and ask her to bring something.

I heard the door open and Shinji said, "Oh, you're finally awake." "Why are you here?" I asked, not in my usual arrogant voice, "Aren't you supposed to be at work?" "My boss told me to take a break." he answered, "By the way, I didn't know you were a hopeless romantic." He smirked as he held up one of my books.

"Sh- shut up." I muttered as I tried to snatch my novel back. But he easily held the book up higher, taking the novel away from my reach.

"And books remind me, we still haven't did our lessons today." He said, in a monotone voice that annoyed me. "What are you talking about?" I asked, still glaring at him, "I've done all my Summer Homework."

"Doesn't mean you're going to stop lessons." He scoffed, "You don't _really_ want to lose that bet, do you?" "How do you know about that?!" I exclaimed.

"Hmph." He grunted, "Half the time, I don't enough sleep because of your annoying midnight ramblings." "So you've been sneaking into my room at night to hear me sleep- talk?" I asked, absolutely outraged. Why did he want to hear my inner most secrets? Unless he wanted to black- mail me as well.

"You have a tendency to talk loudly." He said, glaring at me, "Not unlike when you're a awake."

"Oh well." I said, the remembrance of the bet motivating me, "Might as well. How are we going to study without problems?" "I have extra math books." He said, shrugging, "Now hurry up. I want to get this over with. It's annoying tutoring you. You don't get anything right."

"Well." I scoffed, "There are a lot of ways to say that in a nicer way." "Yes." He said, "But I didn't use one of them. Now hurry up."

I was surprised at myself when he was done checking the first problem. I had actually gotten it right. And he didn't throw one of those insults where he says a kindergartner could do better.

I also got the second one right, and the third. Suddenly, all the numbers and signs that made no sense made all the sense in the world.

But on number four, my lucky streak broke.

Shinji sighed. Usually he'd be all over me about this, but I guess, since I was sick, he was cutting me some slack.

"No." He said, "What've I told you? You separate all the variables and numbers." "Like… this?" I asked, somehow knowing I was just screwing up the whole problem now.

Shinji took another deep breath and said, "No. Like this." He placed his hand on mine and led my pencil to do the correct steps. But I wasn't really paying attention to that. I was trying to keep my heart in check. It seemed like it was going to pound out of my chest.

I tried to focus on what Shinji was doing, but I knew it wasn't working.

Could he hear my heart beating? Or feel the heat rushing up to my face? I didn't like this feeling he was giving me. I didn't like it one bit.

And worse, all the blood circulating through my head was making the pounding and spinning return.

"Did you get that?" He asked. "Get what?" I asked slowly. He let out a frustrated sigh and kicked my bed, which made me bounce up.

"What was that for!?" I cried. "For being idiotic." he retorted, "I just explained everything to you, and you _still_ don't get it." "I can't help it!" I exclaimed, "Everything is spinning." "Why? All this thinking making your head hurt?" He said with a smirk, "I always knew you couldn't hold this much stuff inside that brain of yours. What's your IQ point? 20?"

"Be quiet." I said, throwing my pencil at his head. Which he expertly dodged.

"Since your brain can't handle it," He started, getting up, "We'll resume tomorrow." "Yeah," I said tiredly, "Tomorrow. And Shinji?" "What?" He snapped, suddenly back to his original self. "I'm not eating that crap." I said, pointing at the food he had burnt.

"I never asked you to." He retorted before walking out of my room and quietly shutting the door behind him.

God, I hated him.

Especially the feeling that he gave me. I hated him and whatever emotions he brought with him. And who was he to call me an idiot? I'd show him, I'd be smarter tomorrow, and do whatever it took to get one compliment out of him.

And I slipped into a wonderful dream where a lot of bad things happened to a certain Shinji Ikari.

**AN. Ahhh. So happy. My first Ikarishipping moment. This chapter actually had some Pokeshipping, and one- sided Contestshipping. I'm really slow with stuff like this, so if you spot a mistake, It'll probably be mentioned in the Author's Note of the next chapter. Okay, about the last chapter. I randomly thought of the pink diamond. And as I was writing this chapter, I kind of had an urge to read Lady Marmalade: Sweet Sweet Revenge**** ( love the story need to put it on favorites when I have the time) And I realized that the necklace that Dawn wore was a pink diamond. That was total coincidence. I didn't try to copy HarvestGirl10 at all. Now, about this chapter. Truthfully, I think this relationship is going way too fast, because it's only been a week. And that really bothers me. And now I'm not going to say anymore because I'm pretty sure I'll say something I wasn't supposed to. The dog will be explained in next chapter.**

**Kahmelion **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

The next day, I felt better and made up for all my chores for the day before.

The day after that, my mom happened to call. She asked why I didn't call her, and she would've called earlier if it didn't keep forgetting to. After I had assured her that everything was fine and a long explanation of what had happened after I moved in (all lies of course) she bid me farewell and hung up.

The day after _that_, we got a call from Reiji.

He was rearranging the furniture around the house for another table and sprained his wrist or something while moving a shelf with some movers. Now guess who he was asking for help?

Us.

This led to a very grumpy Shinji complaining and asking why he had to help him as we walked all the way to Reiji's house, why _we_ had to help him.

"_Because_ he's your brother." I explained as we walked closer to his house every step, "And he's been taking care of you for most of your life." "It was a rhetorical question." He snapped. But I merely ignored him as I rang the doorbell.

"Oh, you're here!" Reiji exclaimed, opening the door. When I saw his full body, I saw that his wrist was in a light wrapping.

Just as I was about to step in, I squealed as I felt something furry push past my legs and rush in. "Oh, no." Reiji said, "I keep telling him he's not supposed to come inside! After letting him in once, he won't stop."

"What was that?" I squeaked. "That was the dog." Reiji explained. "Oh, so that was it." I said, regaining my regular voice, "Shinji _did_ say something about having a dog." "Well, he's not really our dog." Reiji said, "Shinji found him down the street a few years ago and started taking care of it secretly. Right Shinji?"

He just merely pushed past him and walked inside coolly.

"Well, come on in." He said gesturing me with his hand. I stepped in and was attacked by a huge fuzz ball. I shut my eyes as I waited for the impact. "Oof." I grunted as my bottom hit the floor.

When I opened my eyes, I squeaked, for there was a big, dirty, hairy dog on top of me. And I instantly sat up, trying to get him off of me. Instead, he just relocated his paws so that they were pressed on top of my lap.

His hair covered his eyes and I could feel the pressure as he let out each pant of air. He almost looked like he was smiling the way the corner of his mouth was slightly upward. He was very cute, however smelly he was.

I reluctantly lifted my hand and scratched his under his large, floppy ears. He nudged against my hand to show that he wanted me to do it again. I smiled slightly as I scratched again. He pounced on me again and barked once.

The sound he made was quite squeaky for a gigantic dog like himself. I giggled.

"He seems to like you." Reiji said, nodding ever so slightly. I sat up again as I asked, "What's his name?" He merely shrugged.

"He's not exactly _ours_ so we never bothered naming him." He said, "We just called him, The Dog." "How mean!" I said and I scowled at him. I looked back at the dog and cooed, "Don't worry, I'll give you a name."

He barked happily and leaned forward to lick my face, but I lightly shoved him off. I stood up and stared at him in concentration. But it broke when I heard someone say in a cool voice, "You better not name him something stupid."

I turned around to face Shinji. "Whether I do or not is none of your business." I said to him, my voice equally as cold." "Yes I can." He said, "I've been taking care of him ever since I found him. I can do anything I want to him, for example."

He unwrapped something, broke off an extremely small piece and threw it to the dog.

The dog ran over and sniffed it before chewing on it happily. When he was done, he ran up to Shinji, begging for more. I gaped at him as I saw the caramel gooiness stuck to his teeth. At least, I think it was it.

"Did you just feed him _chocolate_?" I asked in horror, "Do you know what could happen to him?" "More specifically, a Snickers bar. And I just gave him one of the peanuts." He said as he shrugged. "It could still hurt him!" I shrieked. He ignored me along with the whimpers of want that came from the dog, refusing to give it any more.

"God, is that smell coming from the dog?" Reiji asked, coming back into the room, (I hadn't even noticed he had vanished) he pinched his nose with his thumb and forefinger (on his good arm of course). "Most likely." I said. It wasn't really bothering me, I had gotten a bit used to the stench.

"It's going to have to go, or we'll have to give it a bath." He said, "I just need this smell gone." My eyes lit up as he gave the suggestion.

"Can I give him a bath?" I asked. "Why?" Reiji asked, "It's really hard work. Especially for a big dog like him." "But I've always seen my neighbor do it, and it seemed like lots of fun." I said in a daze. "You'll get wet." He warned. "I have thick clothes on." I assured.

"Well, I'll leave everything to you." He said with a bright smile, "I must say, it was perfect timing, I was just about to make lunch, and the stench would have made it so unappetizing." Through the corner of my eye, I saw Shinji roll his.

"Aw, this is going to be so fun!" I squealed as I resisted from jumping up and down. I hadn't played with water for so long. The last time I did, I'd gotten a pretty bad cold. After that, my mom never let me play with water again. Except the occasional swimming pool.

Reiji led me out of the house through the back door and took me to where lots of equipment lay on a row of gray bricks.

"This is where we take him on the rare occasions we give him a bath." He said, "And remember. Don't use the hose." He picked up a huge water gun, with his good arm, that lay on a gray brick and gave sprayed water up in the air. "Use this."

He handed me the insanely heavy water gun and I felt my knees buckle under the weight of if. No kidding. This water gun was _huge_.

"Why do you use this?" I asked, trying to hold it properly. "He moves a lot when we give him a bath." Reiji answered, "We waste too much water when we shoot him with a hose, and we care about the environment. A water gun is most efficient. It's so much easier too. Be careful, though, it's heavy." "No kidding." I muttered through my clenched teeth.

Reiji shined another bright smile at me and said, "Good luck! It's not as easy as you think. It's more like a mission then a bath. But it gets fun." And he headed back inside.

I looked at the dog with what I hoped were hard eyes and said, "So, should we do this the easy or hard way?" He stopped panting for a moment and wagged his tail faster. I could still see that cheesy grin. Who was he? Winn- Dixie?

Then he shot off past me, moving side to side when he got far enough, taunting me.

I sighed heavily. I was hoping I wouldn't need to use the water gun.

I held it properly with much effort and shot at him. He dodged it expertly and ran to another side of the yard. I shot at him again.

Even though he seemed hundreds of feet away, it seemed like the water reached him. At least I wouldn't have to run with it, if I did, I'd probably faint before I even shot him once.

"Oh, stay still!" I said in a frustrated voice as I missed him yet again. He barked happily. Obviously amused by my lack of aim.

I growled under my breath.

He ran to the back door where I was pretty confident I could hit him for sure. I mean, he wasn't that far from me. I chuckled menacingly under my breath as I shot. But he ducked just in time. Dropping his head to a crouch.

I bit my tongue so that I wouldn't let the string of profanities threatening to come up my throat slip. This was more hard work than fun.

I barely noticed the door open as Shinji came out to shout at me. "Be careful Clumsy! I can't hear anything over that racket!" But I couldn't hear anything he was saying. My eyes were still on the dog. He had stood back up again, but that smirk he had on his face just showed that he was teasing me.

"Hey did you hear me?! Shoot somewhere else!" I heard Shinji shout again. No. I did not hear him. Neither did I want to hear him. I just wanted to shoot the dog once.

I shot at the dog's head. So I could wipe the smirk off it's furry face. Literally.

But, again, I missed as he ran to the right, heading for the a big tree.

"Man, and I was so close too." I whined as I kept on staring at the grinning dog. I heard Shinji clear his throat in an annoying way. "Wait, I'm trying to shoot him." I said. He cleared it again. "Do you want your dog to take a bath or not?" I asked furiously as I kept on staring.

Then a waterfall of freezing water was dumped over my head. I shivered slightly as I flapped my hands to get rid of the dripping drops running off my fingertips. I spit out what water I had in my mouth and turned swiftly to face him

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?" I yelled as I looked at him. "What was that for?!" He said incredulously, "Look what you did to me!" As I looked closer at him, I saw his bottom half was darker.

"WHAT?! THE COLOR DOESN'T MATCH!? HERE! I'LL FIX IT FOR YOU!" And I sprayed him in the face. You couldn't blame me. I'd been trying to get the dog wet the whole time. And he kept on dodging in the most annoying ways possible. Then comes Shinji and practically rips up my last nerve into a million pieces.

He was grinding his teeth so hard, I could hear it.

He bent down to pick up the hose I hadn't noticed, and walked a short distance to the faucet. He pointed the opening at me, and before I could react, he twisted the handle so that the water hit me with a strong force. The pressure was so strong, It almost knocked me over.

I rubbed my eyes to get the droplets hanging off my eyelashes so I could see clearly. But even through the blur, I could see that annoying smirk on his face. I huffed angrily, not daring to say anything, for I was sure that I would cuss him out if I did.

So, before he could move, I held up the water gun with brand new strength and shot him yet again.

I smiled with satisfaction as I saw him with his eyes closed, just standing there, as though he was resisting the urge to kill me.

I started running as soon as I saw the fire in his pupils when he opened his eyes. But regardless of all the sprinting, I felt the water on my back. I stumbled a few steps, but regained my balance.

I could feel my lips pull up into a huge grin as I started pumping more water at him. I could see his face, but, he just _had _to be as having as much fun as I was. In return to my water- spraying, he shot more water at me.

They collided against each other, but in the end, I got wet. The hose was stronger than my water gun, and this wasn't fair. When I pointed this out to him, he just shrugged and said, "You should have thought of that _before_ you got me all wet."

Regardless, I kept on spraying him, my childish grin still in place. _This_ was the fun that I had seen so many children doing in my neighborhood when I was young.

"If you're done, I have to go back inside. I'm hungry." Shinji said. He still had that cold look on his face, but he sounded exhilarated.

His hair was a darker shade of purple, but had a bright shine as the sun glinted off the droplets. He had a glow around him, that I couldn't really explain.

When I didn't answer him, he sighed in an irritated way and pushed back his dropping hair with his right hand. I broke out of my thoughts and looked down at myself. "Aw man." I groaned, "I don't want to walk home like _this_."

Then we heard something. Something that sounded like choking. Or coughing. Neither of us could put a finger on it.

"Was that you?" I asked Shinji. "Do I really look like I'd make a sound as retarded as that?" He asked, "I thought it was you." I ignored his insult and looked around for the noise. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was suffering.

Then came the noise again.

"Is it coming from… him?" I heard Shinji say in an incredulous voice, but somehow still able to keep his cold look on his face.

I looked to my right to see the dog I had long forgotten hunched over in a weird position. "Is he okay?" I asked with a worried tone. "I think." Shinji answered, slowly walking over to him, "He's making that weird noise."

And as I walked closer to him, I could hear him.

"What is he _doing_?" I asked him, worry still in my voice. "I think he's… coughing?" Shinji answered in a unsure tone. "No." I said, "I think he's. Choking." "He can't be choking." He said, "With a mouth that big, he could swallow anything." "Do you think we should take him to a vet or something?"

That's when he looked up.

He still had that stupid smirk on his face and while making the weird noise, I could see his shoulders moving up and down.

"Is he… Snickering?" I asked in an incredulous voice.

"I think he is." Shinji answered, "I'm not sure, he's never made that kind of sound before today." "You think it's because of the Snickers you gave him?" I asked in a joking tone. "Or maybe it's because of the immature way you acted." He said.

"Huh." I snorted, "Who's the one that poured water all over me?" "Who's the one who sprayed me in the first place." Then we heard him snickering again.

I could practically feel the vein in my head pounding.

I still had some water in the gun, It wouldn't hurt to give one squirt. So I did. It didn't do much, but I was still satisfied.

He shook his whole body, spraying water all over the place. I squealed as I felt some land on my bare skin, and he snickered again. "He's got to stop doing that." I said, "It's so annoying." Then I turned on Shinji. "It's _your_ fault. If you hadn't given him a bit of that Snickers bar…"

"What are you talking about?" He asked, "How do you know it was even the fault of the chocolate?" "Are you kidding?" I asked, "It says clearly right on the wrapping "Snickers". If you couldn't see that, you have a problem with your eyes."

"Well of course someone like _you'd_ think of that." He snorted, "I shouldn't have been surprised." I put my hands on my hips and shifted my weight. "I think you've made your opinion on my intellect pretty clear." I said coldly.

The dog snickered again.

"Oh, shut up!" I shouted at him. That just made his grin wider. And I thought Shinji was the only person in the world who could annoy the hell out of me.

Just when I was going to chase after it and make sure he _never_ smiled like that again, a light breeze flew by and I shivered ever so slightly. I thought it was unnoticeable, but Shinji caught me.

"That's why I wanted to go in." He said with a sigh.

I glared at the dog pointedly, "I'll let you go this time, but next time, you might not be so lucky." He kept on smiling at me, until I turned around. That's when I heard him snicker again. I rolled my eyes as I imagined him, hunching over with his head tucked into his shoulders as it moved up and down. And no matter how much I wanted to hit him across the head, I followed Shinji back into the house.

Inside, I washed up and borrowed some of Shirona's clothes, although most of them were a bit too showy for me.

After lunch, we started moving the furniture while Reiji directed us to the right direction. After a few hours, we had to leave. I guessed that Shinji didn't want a run- in with Shirona or something.

"This is completely stupid." I whined as we left the house with our wet clothes, "We could have stayed longer, and if Shirona came, you could just ignore her or something." He just kept on walking. I stopped after a few steps.

"Wait." I said thoughtfully, "I don't have to deal with this. I have the room key." "Not really." He answered for the first time, "We only brought one key, and I have it." And he raised his arm so I could see it. The way he showed it to me looked like he was shoving it right in my face, although he was a good two feet away from me.

I sighed and rolled my eyes.

Behind me, I could hear thudding. I turned around and I could see the big, hairy dog running toward us, it's tongue lolling out in a pathetic way. And no matter how annoying his snickering was. He looked so cute!

I smiled at him once and turned back to walk with Shinji again. But through the corner of my eye, I could see him tilt his head in confusion.

"Bye Snickers." I said quietly.

I didn't know where the name came from. But after that. It kind of stuck.

**AN. Extremely long one coming up. **

**I finally finished this chapter!! I'm sorry I updated so late. And I have a very good excuse. I was in Washington for this conference for people who are smarticle! Like me!! Nah, I was just kidding. But, I really was in a conference. And then my plane home got delayed four times! Then my cousin invited me to her Breaking Dawn midnight release party (sorry, that has nothing to do with this. But if you care, my opinion of it is in my profile) And then I got too lazy to finish it the next day, then today, I had to go school shopping. See. Very good excuse. I hope. This idea actually popped up in my head when my brother shoved my baby brother into the sprinklers (I know it's evil, but my baby bro was having fun so…) And so I shoved my brother into the sprinklers. And then my brother took the hose to spray me, and then I took his ginormous water gun and shot him with it. It was so fun! I'm hoping the next chapter will come out in Wednesday, so whatever you have to say about this chapter, you'd better say it soon. I was also going to say something else, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. Oh well, it'll probably be in the next chapter's AN. Happy reading! Oh wait. I know what chocolate does to dogs. I'm not stupid. Shinji just gave him like, a peanut or something. It was extremely small. I'm sorry if any one of you are horrified of what I did. I assure you. I love dogs. They're my favorite animal. It's practically canines who are encouraging me to become a vet when I grow up.**

**Kahmelion**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Haruka's POV**

I could have sworn that my clock had talked to me.

I rubbed my bright red eyes and shook my head to keep myself awake. I couldn't go to sleep now! The next semester was starting tomorrow. And I had to study to make sure I got into the top ten this time.

I widened my eyes to it's limit and concentrated on the text book in front of me, but after a while I felt myself drifting off.

I slapped myself, ignoring the slight stinging.

How long had it been?

How long exactly had I been awake studying for school?

I didn't bother averting my eyes to my clock in fear of drifting off to sleep while trying to figure out what time it was.

I sighed noiselessly and rested my chin on my desk, my eyes still glued to the page I'd been reading over and over.

I focused on sentence after sentence, soon to become word after word, then letter after letter. Before I finally closed my eyes in defeat and went to sleep directly after the action.

XxXxXx

I screamed as I felt something freezing cold splatter all over me.

"What… Was that for?" I said through gritted teeth, trying to keep my teeth from chattering.

My little brother, Masato, pushed his glasses farther up his nose.

"Yes, well," He started, "You were so dead tired from yesterday that you failed to wake up at your usual time which led me to using my last resort."

I pushed back my damp bangs and huffed in an irritated way. He was taller and more mature than me, yet still managed annoy me in a way a sibling usually does.

"Does nudging ring a bell?" I asked him rudely. "Hmph. Like I hadn't already tried it." He said, losing his composure, "Along with slapping, loud noises, and the cat." I raised my eyebrows. "How did you use the cat?" I asked. "Anyone would wake up if they felt a cat claw out their hair." He said, "How you managed to do it. The world may never know."

My eyebrow twitched a few times.

"What time is it?" I asked. "Almost time for school." He answered, "I think that's all you'd want to know."

I bustled around the house getting ready for school as fast as I could. And with a Goodbye, I left home with Masato for school.

"Exactly how long were you up last night?" Masato asked after the seventh time I rubbed my eyes. "I don't know." I said, keeping down a yawn threatening to come up. "You study so late and yet, you can't get any higher than eleventh." I stopped rubbing to glare at him.

"Well we can't all use the power of osmosis to higher our intelligence." I said. "But, I don't use osmosis." He said coolly, "I just happen to absorb everything I see." "Exactly the same." I said, rubbing my eyes again.

I felt something pull my hand away.

"Don't do that." Masato scolded, "If you keep on rubbing, it'll itch more." I pulled my hand back and said with a huff, "Fine."

"It's not fair!" I cried after a while of silence, "How come you get all the good grades and such, and I'm always one step behind you? And I'm three years older than you!" The corner of his mouth twitched upwards at this comment. "Having frequent bad grades is a good thing too."

"How so?" I asked. "Well," He started, pushing his glasses up again, "If you haven't noticed, when you get an extremely good grade, Mom, and Dad always attack you with complements. They're _never_ surprised if I get a 100 on a test or something."

I grimaced.

"Yes." I said, "But that can get a bit insulting." "At least they show they care." Masato said, patting me on the back. I looked up at him in a praising way. It was unusual how we bonded more like a little sister and older brother than reversed.

"There's school." He said a few seconds later, "Lucky we don't live very far, huh?" He flashed a cheesy grin at me, and I smiled back in return.

A loud bang disturbed our bonding moment, and I went to search for the noise, while Masato went straight to class. Why bother? It wasn't time yet.

"Stupid… Doesn't… School… Insulting." These were the faint words I heard while heading toward the right direction. I rounded the corner to see Hikari slamming the ball of her foot onto the school dumpster.

"You okay?" I asked quietly, not sure if she heard me or not.

She quickly turned to face me, her eyes ablaze.

"No I am not okay!" She screamed, "It's all because of that good- for- nothing- ba-" "Hikari!" I scolded. "The point is, I really hate that guy!" She continued. "Shinji?" I guessed quietly. "Who else!?" She questioned loudly.

"He heads off early. I ask him to wait up, and all he says is that he doesn't want to be seen with me at school." She fumed, "I know he told me ahead of time, but to actually tell me that he doesn't want to be seen with me…"

"Why are you so angry about that?" I asked, "I thought you'd be fine with it."

She paused for a second, then the bell rang.

"Aw man." She moaned, "I hate Social Studies." With her head down, she walked towards school. I guessed she'd completely forgot about the topic. I shrugged and followed her.

"I'm so glad I finished my Summer work." Hikari said, her hands behind her head, "If I told my teachers I didn't do it, I'd probably be in detention for the next month." "Lucky Shinji helped you, you mean." I pointed out. "Who?" She asked sweetly. "Never mind." I said in a quiet voice, averting my gaze to the floor.

I paid attention to everything the teacher said, writing down notes when necessary, raising my hand to every question I could answer.

"And today's homework assignment is-" I lost focus on the teacher's words as I laid back in my chair and sighed in exhaustion, I'd get the assignment from Hikari. If she was paying attention.

"This is so boring." She moaned quietly.

Apparently not.

"Can't the clock go any faster?" Hikari asked quietly. "Time can't go any faster than it already does." I whispered, "It's almost time to be dismissed anyways." "This isn't fair." She whined, "I've been doing Homework for more than half of my Summer Break, and now I have to study some more."

"Something you want to share with us Ms. Toyoguchi?" The teacher asked her as he noticed both of us whispering together in a suspicious way. "Just telling Haruka how excited I am for the new semester to start." She lied cheerfully.

He turned his back on us to continue writing the assignment. No doubt he was a bit suspicious, but she'd said it with the right amount of enthusiasm, even I had to hand it to her.

The bell rang soon after, and I heard Hikari let out a sigh next to me.

She hooked her fingers together and stretched high up while saying, "I though class would _never_ end." "If you were paying attention to what the teacher was saying instead of waiting for class to end, time would've gone faster." I said pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered. I pursed my lips, trying to show her I was obviously annoyed. "Well, get ready for even more studying, because next up is math." "I know." She sighed. "At least I'll _actually_ get what the teacher is trying to teach me though." I rolled my eyes as we walked the final steps to our desk.

"Am I late?!" Kasumi cried, bursting through the door. "Nope." Hikari answered. She sighed in relief. "This is unusual." I said, "Usually you're the first one here." "Yeah." She agreed, sitting down next to me, "But my foot still hurts a bit. Like if I put too much pressure on it or something, so I still limp a bit."

"Quiet down class." The Math teacher said in a bored tone as he entered the room. "Oh, I know what's next." Hikari muttered, "Hope you had a great summer." She said synchronized with the teacher, "Did all of you do your Summer Homework? If you did, pass them up please." "So predictable." She muttered at the end.

"Obviously. They give the same speech every year." Kasumi muttered back. Of course she'd know what Hikari was talking about. She had really good ears. Which makes me wonder why, since all she hears everyday is rushing water.

Class went by with much sighs heard from both Hikari and Kasumi, some snickers added in one of the teacher's drawls, and a few eyes rolled during the whole class.

"Can't you two go _one_ class without disturbing me from thinking?" I asked in an exasperated voice while we headed toward P.E.

"If the teacher's going to talk like _that_, we can't make any promises." Hikari said through snickers. "Yeah." Kasumi said, giggling. I smiled slightly as I realized what they were talking about. Anyone would laugh at a tone like our Math teacher's.

"I hate how we have to change into these uncomfortably short shorts for Physical Education." I complained as I put them on. "It doesn't only bother you." Hikari said, pulling the ends down. "Doesn't really bother me." Kasumi said in a naïve tone. "Obviously it wouldn't bother you." Hikari said, "You wear swimsuits everyday."

We walked out, still feeling a bit uncomfortable, with the exception of Kasumi of course.

"It's been a while since I've seen this field." Hikari said, taking a deep breath, "I've missed it." "I haven't." Kasumi muttered. She was more of a water person. "I bet you barely even touch land out of school." I teased, "You swim every hour of the day." "But, I'm faster than you." Kasumi challenged. I shrugged and continued walking.

"I want ten laps around the field NOW!!" The Physical Education teacher shouted in her freakishly loud voice. I started with Hikari and Kasumi, struggling to catch up to them. I wasn't fast, nor was I slow. I was just, average I guess.

"You… Guys are… So evil." I said, wondering how I managed it through all my pants. "Not our fault you train you brain but not your body." Hikari said, also between pants. "Are you okay?" Kasumi asked, "You're all red."

"Yeah." I gasped, "Just need to rest a bit." I collapsed in the grass the exact moment I said that, and I felt Hikari and Kasumi follow after me. "It seems like forever since this last happened." Hikari said, sounding dazed. "That's what happens after breaks." Kasumi said.

"Up and at 'em!" Our teacher yelled through her speaker, "Class isn't over yet! Get up!" "I officially hate our PE teacher." I said through gritted teeth. "Neh, I've had worse." Kasumi said.

After many more laps and exercises later, class had finally ended. Which meant we could relax a bit in Home Economics class. I hoped.

As we went out separate ways to trade our shoes, I felt relaxed and dazed which led me to bump into an unknown person.

"Oh, sorry." I gasped.

"Nah, it's fine." The person replied.

I very nearly gasped as I saw exactly _who_ I 'd just bumped into.

"Oh, Shuu." I said, trying to control my blush. I felt my heart racing. The way it was pounding sounded like a helicopter and I found myself flying away as he recognized me.

"Wait. You're Haruka, right?" He asked in a surprised tone, "Haruka Kaori." "How'd you know?" I asked breathlessly.

"Heh." He scoffed, losing all charm he had a moment ago, "Easy. I knocked you off the top ten. Obviously, I would know. It was really simple you know. Don't know how you struggled to do it." Then the flying sensation came to a stop, and soon I was hurtling toward the ground.

"_Excuse_ me?" I growled. "Just had to pass a few tests, do good on my homework, train myself for PE." He said with a smirk, "Easy as pie." I felt my anger flare to this remark. Easy as _pie_? If he even knew how to make pie, he'd know very well, it was _not_ easy.

And even if it were the other pi. Does he know the whole number? As you could see, both were absolutely _not_ easy and simple as he claimed them to be.

"For your information." I growled, "At least I know that I worked _hard_ to get up to my place and you know what? I'm going to work even _harder_ and bump you out!" "Whatever you say." He said, still smirking. He turned away and waved his hand, "Good luck with that." And he practically strutted away.

I could feel the steam coming out of my hand as I clenched my fingers so hard, they dug into my palms.

"Haruka!" Kasumi cried, running over to me, "I saw you and Shuu talking. Aren't you happy?" I forced a smiled. "Yes. Extremely happy." I forced out firmly. "Obviously he isn't what he's cut out to be. Right?" Hikari asked. "Is it really any of your business?" I asked her sweetly.

Then we dropped the subject.

I put on my apron and usual red bandana on, still a bit angry at what happened.

He had some nerve. Did he even put _half _his heart into working to my rank? If he had. That was fine. But he could've at least put it like he did.

"Today, we're making cookies for the nearby orphanage!" The Home Economics teacher said cheerfully, "So everyone get into your groups and do your best!"

"Let's see, recipe says flour, water, eggs…" Hikari carried on with the ingredients as Kasumi and I went to get them.

"Are you okay?" Kasumi asked. "Of course!" I assured, putting on my best relaxed smile. "Then will you please stop crushing the egg carton?" I looked down to what I was carrying and saw some slight indents in the foam. At least I hadn't crushed an egg.

"So we put in the milk, water, eggs- Don't put the shells in Haruka!" Hikari warned. I realized what I was doing and dropped what I had in my hand to stop myself before I made the mistake. "Sorry." I said. "What's wrong with you ,Haruka?" Hikari asked, "You're usually pretty good at this." "_Everyone's_ good at cracking eggs." Kasumi said, "And that's what's making me so worried."

"I _knew_ Shuu was a jerk." Hikari said. "Isn't he?" I said, fuming again, not even bothering to ask how she knew, "I don't get _why_ so many girls like someone like _him_ so much." "But you have to admit," Kasumi started, cleaning up the yolk I'd dropped, "he has charm. That's how he gets so many girls. People like Shinji just automatically attract girls."

I heard something crackle and I looked at Hikari, who was slumped over the bowl with yolk spilling out of her fist. "Yeah." She said darkly, "But he's such a jerk too, why would _anyone_ like him?"

"Hikari, are you okay?" Kasumi asked cautiously.

Hikari smiled in such a menacing way that I cringed at the sight. "Who me?" She asked, "Of course I'm okay! In fact, I've never felt any better!" By that time, I could swear everyone was looking at us.

"Um. Ms. Toyoguchi, are you okay?" The teacher said, cautiously approaching us. "Yes, I'm just fine. I just had a bad night." She said, smiling normally. The teacher beamed at us and returned to inspecting the room.

Kasumi scratched her nose awkwardly and moved to clean up the mess Hikari had now made. "Here, I'll do that." I offered, holding out a hand for the towel. "My, God," Kasumi sighed, slapping the towel into my hand, "Am I the only one composed around here? And what are you looking at?" She snapped at the students behind us.

I made a look that had "Eek" written all over it as they nervously went back to their work.

"Only one cup of flour, Hikari!" Kasumi cried, "Oh, for goodness sake! Do you know how much I need this A!? Give that cup to me!"

Poor Kasumi, I thought in my mind. "Why are you so mad at Shinji anyways?" Kasumi asked, "What'd he do to you?" As soon as this question was asked, all fury was wiped off of Hikari's face. "What are you talking about?" She asked innocently, her eyes wide.

"Did he insult you? Have you seen him bullying anyone?" Kasumi asked, now mixing the batter, "You know, anything to tick you off." "He ticked me off alright." Hikari said, her dark voice coming back.

"You know what," Kasumi said, backing off a bit, "I decided, I don't want to know. Okay, now. What color should we make the cookies?" She put her finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Something random. What about green? Haruka, put a few drops of green coloring into the batter."

I picked the color out and squeezed just enough in. Then Kasumi resumed mixing.

"Let's see." Kasumi said, looking down at the instructions, "Here Haruka, keep on mixing, I'm going to go grease the pan." And she handed the bowl to me. I looked inside and the green dough- ish substance shined at me.

This green reminded me of someone. Someone who wasn't very pleasant.

I started mixing harder and harder, and soon I lost control.

"He's… Such… An… Idiot…" I muttered, ignoring my weary arm. "Haruka! The dough is sticking to the spoon!" I heard Kasumi cry, "And Hikari! That's enough scrubbing! Ugh!"

Poor Kasumi.

She could say goodbye to her A in Home Economics.

**AN. FINALLY! Sorry. I couldn't update on Wednesday. This is kind of a Back- To- School chapter. I can't update any sooner than once a week because I'm not allowed to go on the internet during the week days anymore. Says my mom. Since school has now started. I wouldn't really count this as a Contestshipping chapter. But, it's my first Haruka/ Shuu moment. In a way… This was actually a fun chapter to write. I'm going to have to write in Haruka's Point of View more often. I don't think I know enough of Misty to write a Pokeshipping chapter, since I started watching Pokemon in the middle of Advanced Generation, but I'll try. And don't get me wrong. I think Misty's really cool. Dawn's character kind of bothers me, since she acts so girly, so I kind of changed her character. I can't stand writing girly stuff! But, other than that, I will try to keep her a bit girly at some points… Well, happy reading.**

**Kahmelion**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**Hikari's POV**

No one could be more like the Energizer Bunny.

He just kept on going on and on.

We could ditch him. But he's so fast he'd catch us anyways.

I don't know why he kept following us. It's not like we treated him very nicely anyways. We meaning Shinji. What was his problem with the guy? Although he _could_ get abnormally annoying, he was a sweet guy. At least he was keeping his promise. But, I can't help asking myself, how I got into this situation.

_A Few Days Ago_

"How could they do this!?" I screeched. Haruka slapped her hands over her ears, "This is not fair! It's only the first week of school! We shouldn't be having tests!" "I think you're only upset because you didn't get a good grade." Kasumi said smugly. "Be quiet." I snapped, "I made a fair enough grade." "A 60's actually pretty bad," Haruka said, "compared to what I got." Which was a perfect 100, like usual.

"This sucks!" I whined, "There goes another reason for Shinji to tease me." "Shinji?" Kasumi asked. My eyes widened in realization to what I had just said.

"I- I mean…" I stuttered, "He tutors me." At least I wasn't lying. "Does he?" Kasumi asked. "Yes." I said with more confidence this time, "So you watch out Kasumi, I'll win that bet for sure."

I had turned to face Kasumi around that time so I hadn't been looking at where I was going, so I accidentally bumped into some unknown person. I flew back and landed on my bottom.

"Ouch." I muttered as I rubbed a tender spot.

"Sorry." I heard a exhilarated voice say as I pushed myself up, "I was going so fast, couldn't stop." "Oh, that's fine." I said to the blond in front of me, "I'm Hikari." "Oh, I know." He said quickly, "I'm Jun, I'm the reporter at our school."

"Ah!" Kasumi cried, whilst pointing an accusing finger at him, "You mean, you're the little brat that wrote that lie about my class cheating in the school festival last year?!" "I wouldn't so much call it a lie than a rumor." He replied with a shrug "So you _had_ to post it on the paper?!" She asked in a disbelieved voice. "Anything interesting I hear goes right on the paper." He said with a definite nod.

I'm sure he caught Kasumi's 'I- Want- To- Throttle- You' look, but ignored it. Most likely because he was given one of those glares almost everyday.

"Now, I'm in a bit of a hurry so I really must be going now." He said, running ahead already, "Good bye children!" And with a wave, he disappeared around a corner.

"Did he just call us children?" Haruka asked, infuriated. She had enough of the immaturity calling from her brother, she didn't need any more. I should know. The many times I've seen them together.

"I hate people like him so much." Kasumi said through clenched teeth, "The kind that spreads stuff that aren't true, without even thinking about how they would feel." "It's kind of his job," I reasoned, a bit stunned by his inhuman speed, "as a journalist and all." "No one notices, but we all do it." Haruka said with a hint of thoughtfulness.

"Hey, it's freedom of press." I said, shrugging. "Isn't that in America?" Haruka asked. "Yeah, but we do it here too." I said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

And the whole conversation drifted through different topics as we failed to stay on track.

"This is stupid." I huffed as I flipped through all my notes back at home. Just in case one of my teachers sprang a pop quiz tomorrow. "Or maybe _you're_ just stupid." Shinji said in his annoyingly monotone voice. "Why do we even bother learning about history?" I continued, ignoring his usual insult I had grown used to, "We have a few wars, a few hundred thousand people die. Big whoop."

I knew the look Shinji was aiming at me. It was the look where he had a come back but decided against voicing because he thought it wasn't worth it.

"Have I told you how much I hated the periodic table?" I asked him angrily. "No and even if you have, I wouldn't care." He said, picking up one of his freakishly thick medical books.

"Here, test me." I said with fierce determination as I shoved my notes on top of the page he was reading.

He heaved a sigh as he repositioned himself into a more comfortable position and said in a bored voice, "Name all the noble gases." My eyes rolled to the ceiling as I concentrated hard. "Um. Neon, Helium, Radon, Argon, Krypton, and something that starts with an X." "Xenon." He said. "Nobody cares!" I snapped.

He tossed the notes back towards me. "I'm going to sleep." He said while getting up, "You can stay up all night for all I care, just keep your voice level to a minimum." I stared hard at my notes, not really concentrating as he walked into his room. Glad to say he didn't slam the door. He'd stopped doing that after two weeks or so after I moved in.

I slammed down the loose papers on the ground and let out an irritated sigh. These things just didn't cooperate with my brain.

I quickly stood up, ready to go to bed, when there was a knock on the door. More like non- stop pounding. I felt a scowl on my face. Who would come knocking (or pounding) at this ungodly hour?

I opened the door a bit, and was quite surprised to find who was outside.

"Hey Gramps! Mom told me- Oh." From his facial expression, I could tell he was just as surprised to find me staring at him. "Hi Hikari!" Jun said cheerfully, and quite loudly, "I didn't know you lived here. My grandpa happens to live here. But I guess I got the wrong door. Do you live here by yourself, or what? …" And he just kept on going and going.

I could see his mouth moving, but I couldn't quite make out what he was saying. My head was spinning and I couldn't think clearly, which made me forget who didn't enjoy loud noises besides me. Especially at this time of night.

I heard a door behind me creak open, and before I could motion a "no" to him, Shinji said in an irritated voice, "Didn't I tell you to keep it down?…" "Shinji Ikari?" Jun asked, as though he was unsure of the person standing before him.

Shinji groaned. "Oh-" "We need to have a _long_ talk." I said, interrupting him as I dragged Jun in by his collar.

"What's going on?" Jun asked, sounding extremely interested, "Is there something going on between you two?" I felt my face heat up as I managed stutter, "Wh- what? N- no! I- I mean. M-me and him? Him and m-me?" "You're not joking?" Shinji scoffed. "Okay, okay." Jun said hastily as he brought his hands up defensively, "I get it, nothing between you two. So, exactly why are you in his house? Or why are you in her house?"

"And why should we tell you?" Shinji asked rudely. "Shinji!" I warned, "But, he's right, why should we tell you?" "I'm not going to spread it if that's what you mean." Jun said.

I looked at him unsurely, "Yeah, no offense, but we don't exactly spill our guts to any stranger. Especially if that stranger happens to be a journalist for a school paper with over two hundred readers." "Hey, I've had my fair share of rules, and I know for a fact that if I were in the same situation you two were in, I wouldn't want it spilling out." He replied, "So you can trust me."

"All you need to know is what you've just seen, so get out." Shinji said with a glare. Well, when was he not glaring at someone?

"So you two coincidentally got offered to rent an open room?" Jun summarized after I explained what was happening.

"That's what I mean." I said. "Well, you two are in quite a problem." Jun said, looking distant, "A very interesting problem." "Jun?…" I asked suspiciously. "Nothing. It's not that." He said quickly, "Isn't it a bit awkward?" "What?" I asked, confused by the sudden change of topic.

"I mean, you know, Shinji's a guy, you're a girl." He said. "Really? I've never noticed." I said sarcastically. "I mean," Jun continued, "usually, people of the opposite sex don't usually live in the same house unless there's something serious between them, or they share the same blood."

"Are you implying that we do inappropriate things when alone?" I asked, my voice going octaves higher while doing so. "No! Ew! Gross!" Jun exclaimed, "That's disgusting!"

"Yeah, yeah. Now get out!" Shinji shouted, dragging him out by the same collar I used to drag him in.

"And stay out!" And with that, he slammed the door in his face before Jun had any time to complain. "I'm going to bed." He said. I barely caught what he said since his head was down and his hair was covering his face.

I jumped a bit as he slammed the door to his room. While I was brushing my teeth, I swallowed down a yawn. I could see my eyes drooping on my reflection in the mirror, yet when I lay in bed, I was wide awake.

Many things ran through my head as a blinked in a daze.

How Jun would act tomorrow, for one thing. Surely he'd keep his word.

I tossed to my side, still thinking. What if he let slip something? Then what? What if everyone found out? How would everyone react?

I'd never been one with a religion, but at that moment, I could help but pray to dear ole' god up there. Please, please have Jun keep his big, fat mouth shut just this once. I prayed. Do this one favor, and I promise you can do whatever you want with my life.

After an awkward moment of silence where I had nothing to think about, I got up for a cool, refreshing cup of chocolate milk.

I could feel a tingling on the sweet side of my tongue just waiting for the sweet cocoa flavor.

Unconsciously, I started humming a nursery tune while picking out a curly straw. Because who doesn't like curly straws?

As I sat on one of the dining table chairs, watching the milk twist up each of the curls of the straw, I heard a door creak open, again.

"What are you doing up?" Shinji asked, in his usual tone. "I couldn't sleep." I said, not bothering to pull a smart remark, "What are _you_ doing up?" "None of your business." He said coolly.

I heard the fridge door open and I turned around to see Shinji taking out a small ice cream tub.

I felt my mouth getting filled with saliva and I whined, "I want some ice cream." He glared at my high- pitched voice, but none- the- less, sat down and shoved the tub between the two of us.

This came as quite a surprise for me, because usually, he would've said, "Tough luck" or "Not my problem." But I didn't hesitate over the mystery for too long because, hey, I had my ice cream.

"Mmm." I said, licking my lips after the first bite, "Coffee." And I took a sip out of my chocolate milk, "Remind me to buy more tomorrow on the way back from school." "No chance." He said, "That'd mean that someone would catch us talking to each other, which would raise suspicions."

"What's your problem?" I asked him, "We're just talking. Everyone talks. Just because girls fawn over you doesn't mean it'd hurt if we were caught _talking_ to each other." "Girls fawn over me?" He asked. "Never mind." I said quickly, shoving another spoon full of coffee ice cream into my mouth.

Of course. How would he know? That so many girls out there in the world prefer cool, and cold types. I didn't know why this thought made my heart start pumping maniacally.

"Did you hear me?" Shinji asked, breaking me out of my thoughts, "I told you to remove your spoon." I quickly retracted my spoon from the ice cream tub. Though this resulted in what little coffee ice cream I had on my spoon to flick upwards and land on Shinji.

I chuckled lightly. "Oops?" I said, sounding like a question.

He sighed.

"Did you know that ever since you moved in, my life has gotten a _lot_ more complicated?" He asked, glaring at me fiercely. "Yeah, I tend to have that affect on people's lives." I said with a sigh of my own.

I felt something cold and wet land on my nose and I lightly cleaned it off with the tip of my index finger.

"Are you _trying_ to start an ice cream fight?" I asked, challenging him subtlety. "First a water fight, now an ice cream fight." He said shaking his head, though not in the way an amused person would, "I'm getting tired of this."

I scowled, and flicked a little bit of melted ice cream at his face which he wiped off his face wearily. I didn't want him to go and leave me here alone. I couldn't believe I was saying this but, things were a bit more fun when he was around. Plus, I wasn't very excited to shift back into my worry wart phase.

"Are you going to keep on eating that, because I'm going back to sleep." He said, pointing at the ice cream. I shoved that and my spoon towards him to show him that I _was_ done.

"How can you _not_ be worried about what'll happen tomorrow? We barely know the guy?" I blurted out. But I didn't exactly regret asking it.

"He's not going to say anything." He said confidently, though his voice barely showed it, "Would you?" "But he's a journalist." I argued, "He said himself, that whatever interesting he finds out goes on the paper. What would people think if we're found out. I'd hate to even _think_ about the things people would say behind our-"

My ranting came to a stop as Shinji shoved a spoon full of ice cream into my mouth.

"Stop worrying Annoying Girl." He said with a firm look, "He's not going to say anything."

The roof of my mouth burned, but I didn't care, because at that moment, I felt quite numb. He was staring at me intently and I could feel my face heating up, which made the ice cream melt faster.

"Now go to sleep." Shinji said, ruining the moment.

I blinked a few times, trying to figure out what just happened. Why, exactly, my heart was thumping very loudly. Unknowingly, I put my hand over my chest.

"Hey." Shinji said, thumping me lightly on the head, "Go to bed, we have school tomorrow. It's not going to be my fault if you're late for school.

I just obeyed him and stood up in a daze, heading toward my bedroom door.

Although I was feeling quite awake as I slowly dragged my feet to my bed, when my head hit the pillow, I could feel my brain slowing down, and my eyelids drooping, and soon I was consumed by sleep.

OoOoOoOo

I woke up just as my alarm clock started beeping.

I looked at the clock and said in an incredulous tone, "Hey, I'm not late."

But, of course, Shinji was up before me. Actually, up and out before me, since he'd already left for school. No question he'd tell me to wake up earlier when I got home, just to cook him breakfast.

After a slightly unfrozen waffle (just how I liked it) I skipped off the school, feeling unusually happy. Why had I been so sullen yesterday night? How could this warm feeling have gone away for one second?

"Hey, Hikari!" Kasumi shouted, waving at me from the other end of the street. I put on one of my brightest smiles and waved back at her. "Hey, Kasumi!" I shouted back, "I didn't know you took this route!"

After looking both ways down the street, looking for any bypassing cars, she ran towards me and said, "I don't usually take this way, but I just wanted to do some exploring since I had time. I didn't know you came from this way." "Yeah, my apartment is just around the bend." I said cheerily.

She looked at me suspiciously.

"What?" I asked. "You seem strangely happy today." She said, eyes narrowed, "Why?" "I don't know." I said with a cheerful shrug, "What? A girl can't be happy for a day?"

We chatted animatedly as we walked to school. At this point, I was sure nothing would ruin my day. Even Shinji's insults.

"Hi, Kasumi, Hikari." Haruka said with her usual morning smile, "Hikari, you seem unusually happy today." "Doesn't she?" Kasumi asked. "I just feel happy it's all." I said, "Unless this warm feeling in my chest _isn't_ called happiness."

"Well, there are many emotions that include a warm feeling in you chest." Haruka said thoughtfully, as she did with many statements. "There's happiness, contentment, pride, love." My smile faltered as my heart pounded louder as this particular emotion was listed, though I didn't know why.

"Well, it can't be love." I said, skipping ahead of the two, "Because there is not _one_ boy in my life." I heard Haruka cough slightly as I said this, but I ignored it.

"Hey, you three! Long time no see!" We all turned our heads to see Satoshi running towards us. "Hi, Satoshi." I said, "Where've you been the whole summer?" "What do you mean where've _I_ been? Where've _you_ been?"

"Changing clothes, eating, taking showers, studying, sleeping. The usual." I said casually. "Cool, so have I." He said brightly.

"Well, hiya girls! And guy." I bright voice shouted from behind me. I turned around and saw Jun rushing up towards us. And suddenly, I remembered why I had been upset yesterday. My optimism dropped and I could practically see the dark aura of worry around me.

"Hey, these are you're friends, right?" He asked, pointing to Haruka, Kasumi, and Satoshi. "Yes." I said slowly. "Good." He sighed, "Because I wanted to talk about the Shinji thing and I didn't want to be alone with you when I did. That would've been a bit awkward."

Suddenly, I felt the urge to hit my head against something. Hard.

"What Shinji thing?" Kasumi asked, "Is there something you're keeping from us?" "You mean the guy with the unusual purple hair?" Satoshi asked. If it weren't for the serious situation I was in, I would've agreed with Satoshi that Shinji's hair was indeed a bit unusual for purple, but since I was on the verge of being found out…

"Yeah, didn't you know about Shinji and Hikari?" Jun asked, surprised. Could this boy _get_ any stupider?! Beside me, I heard Haruka groan.

"Shinji and Hikari are going out?" Kasumi asked, her eyes wide. "They are?" Satoshi asked incredulously.

"No, I meant the same room thing." Jun said, "Didn't she tell you? I thought they were you're friends Hikari." At that moment, I wanted to take his head and slam it on the ground, but there were so many witnesses.

God?

I didn't mean so literally to do _anything_ you wanted to do with my life.

**AN. Wow. I finally got this finished after, what? Two weeks? I'm not very content with this chapter. I tried to lead the ice cream part to an ikarishipping part, but I think I failed at it. It's four in the morning right now, and there's only one thing that's keeping me awake: COFFEE ICE CREAM! It's really good. I can't stop eating. I finally managed to squeeze in Satoshi. Not saying I couldn't have in the last eight chapters, but, ideas kept running through my head and I kept forgetting to add him. Very lucky I was watching a Pokemon couple video at the moment. And one more thing before I end this. Who doesn't like Curly Straws? Seriously. Anyone who objects, speak now or forever hold your peace.**

**Kahmelion**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

Of course they overreacted a bit when I told them.

In fact, I hadn't even gotten through telling them. The bell rang before I had time to finish our story that isn't even finished in real life.

Ha ha.

What a great story to tell my children someday. I could almost picture myself, tucking little kids into bed and saying, "Did you know I once had to live with this totally obnoxious jerk who just _happened_ to be one of the most popular boys in my school at that time. But now, we just laugh about it. Ha, ha, ha…"

Right.

Like Shinji could ever laugh.

I've never even see him smile.

Well, back to the story.

So, when I finished telling them my story, well, let's just say they flipped. Of course Satoshi didn't. He never overreacts, being the dense person he is. But he's not stupid. He gets pretty good grades and stuff. He's more of, you tell a joke and he doesn't get it.

Kasumi went in over her head. I don't even know why. It hadn't been such a big deal to me. At least, until the boxers thing…

I wasn't really worried about their reaction anyways. My goal had been to keep as much people in the dark as possible. But the more people that found out, even more people would soon know. Oh, how I hoped school would end soon.

The one thing that really worried me, was how Shinji would react. I mean. Jun had blabbered everything to two more people. Shinji's taken some items out of his room before, and some things he brought out looked like it hurt. A baseball bat, for one thing. Why in the _world_ would he have a baseball bat in his room? Metal!

And I can't help but wondering why he has the following, other than the bat: hammer, a glass rod, a bamboo stick, and a big metal spoon. Beware the spoon people. It can cause a lot of harm.

So I was immensely surprised when he was a bit cool with it. Of course, he went to go hunt down Jun. Poor guy, I feel sorry for him. But when they arrived, he was in one piece. From the looks of it, I guessed that Shinji had only threatened him or something. Not like it'd effect Jun or anything.

Of course, there were a lot of other things that Shinji did that was mean to him over the past week.

One time, Jun had been very excited about a new story he'd gotten.

"_Look, look!" Jun cried as he ran over to where we were all talking. I didn't know how he could run. It was so humid today that the windows were actually open._

"_What's got you all hyped up?" Kasumi asked. She'd kind of forgiven him for the festival news since he'd told them about my little secret. _

"_I just overheard these people talking about how the principle doesn't plan to buy new text books!" He said quickly, so quickly I barely made out what he said. "Yay. Yeah. That's so awesome." I recited in a bored tone. But of course, Jun didn't notice._

"_It's all written down in this notebook." He said, holding up a green, portable notepad, "This is great." He had that real glow around him like the shine that really happy people have. This must be big. In his book at least._

"_Let me see that." Shinji said, coming over to us. Which nearly made me think that this was someone other than Shinji. "Look, look, look!" Jun cried, practically shoving it in his face._

_He should've noticed something was wrong right then because normally Shinji doesn't give a damn in what we do. _

"_Isn't it all interesting?" Jun asked. We were practically drowning in his anxiety._

"_Yeah, yeah." Shinji said, in a cold, and bored tone. (I seriously needed to take lessons from this guy) And clearly he threw it out the window. Well, it was clear to me. He'd flicked his wrist toward the window, at least, and let go of it at the exact time._

_Jun rushed to the window, crying, "Noooooo! This can't be happening!" And when he turned around, his bottom lip was quivering in a very cute way. So cute, I couldn't help but feel pity for him. _

We couldn't really do anything about it. People would find it a bit weird if we just walked up to Shinji and started shouting at him to apologize. No one had done that before. It was, as Shinji called them, "Extra Precautions" We couldn't even acknowledge at school.

And if being mean to Jun wasn't enough. I just had to be nagged when I got home. Mostly about tests, sometimes about everything being too messy for his liking when he got home. He was acting like my mother. Seriously.

When I had pointed this out to him, he'd said that he was only caring because he was the one that taught me how to do all this stuff, and I still managed to fail.

I almost laughed. It was as though he was telling me that by my failing, it was taking a big blow to his ego.

I _thought_ the rest of the week would get better from then on, but of course, thinking never works. And neither does hoping, or wishing, or even dreaming. Sue you Cinderella. I can't believe you betrayed me.

"What are you all whispering about?" I asked suspiciously at the clustered group in front of me. It's been about a month after school started again, August about.

"Oh, nothing." Haruka said nervously. Her face didn't give, but of course, everyone knew that she was nervous when she pulled the hem of her skirt down. "Hikari, would you like to sleep at my house today?" Kasumi asked casually. "Why?" I asked, eyes wide with surprise, "It's a school night."

"So? We go to the same school. It's just like a sleepover, without the staying up late thing." Kasumi urged, "I even invited Haruka, who agreed." To show that what Kasumi was saying was true, she nodded her head vigorously.

"What's going on here?" I asked, one eye- brow raised in a suspicious way. "She has the right to know." Jun said, "It's her neighborhood. But, I can't believe you haven't heard. It's a good thing my dad is an editor or you might-" "What is it?" I snapped.

"There's this girl kidnapper on the loose." He said, shuddering, "Actually, not girls, more like teens. Ranging from 13 to 18. He's been running around for a while, and they think he's going to hit around your neighborhood next." I felt my heart pumping madly, but I kept a straight face and pretended not to care. "So?" I asked. "You're not worried? At all?" Haruka asked, her fingers touching the bottom of her lip. She looked like a hamster.

"It's fine." I assured with a gentle smile, "I can take care of myself. And I'm sure no one will approach an apartment with a guy in it. Especially as someone as intimidating as Shinji." "But, just in case." Kasumi said with a frown, "You should sleep over."

"I said it's fine." I said, "Don't worry. It's only for a day right? I'll make sure I have maximum protection tonight." I rolled my eyes at this part. Right. Like I had anything to keep me safe. Except a pencil. And maybe a few more.

But, how could my friends keep from worrying when I couldn't even take my own advice?

The news began growing inside my head. Growing larger and larger. Like a humongous kind of fungus. Whatever I thought of, I suddenly thought of this "Girl kidnapper."

I mean, what kind of sick, perverted person goes around kidnapping girls? That was just wrong.

"Are you okay?" Kasumi asked, crashing me back to reality, "You've been looking at the board for over five minutes now. It's making me worried."

Right, right. English. That was an A. That was a B. That was an S. That was an I. Or was it a T? Ugh! I hate English. I heard there was even more perverted sickos roaming around the United States. So I shouldn't be worried.

No!

Just don't think about it Hikari. Remember? Nothing's wrong. Just some kidnapper that abducts girls. You just _happen_ to be a possibility to be one of those abducted girls.

I groaned and hit my head with my palm.

I saw Haruka and Kasumi both looking at me with a worried expression, but I pretended not to notice. I scrunched my eyebrows in concentration at the page I was supposed to be reading.

What was I supposed to do now?

I looked around nervously. My eyes rested on the clock. Only two more minutes till the bell rang for school dismissal. _Please don't let that bell ring._ I found myself wishing. My stomach started churning when I thought about why.

I felt my skin prickling, and all of a sudden, my whole body grew hot in the anxiety. I didn't want to go home. This was an all too new experience for me.

Between all of my thoughts, I heard the bell ring. But, it sounded very distant.

I could hear my teacher distinctly say to read the rest of the page at home, but I wasn't exactly paying attention. I felt like I was going to retch and I was sweating too much. Why was I sweating so much!?

I walked out of the classroom a bit too quicker than usual. And that certainly caught the attention of Haruka and Kasumi. They've been eyeing me ever since Jun spilled the news.

"You want us to walk you home?" Haruka asked. I gave her my best cheerful look and flashed her a wide grin. "Nah." I said, waving my hand in the air dismissively, "That's fine. I'm not a little girl you know. I can walk the streets alone."

"Ok." Kasumi said worriedly, "Call both of us when you get home."

I rolled my eyes, pretending to act as though that was the most absurd thing I'd ever heard. "Don't worry mom. I will."

After our goodbyes, no matter how reluctant, I trudged on home.

_Just get there. Just keep on walking and get home._ I kept thinking over and over again. And before I knew it, I was walking faster and faster. My breath came in quick pants as my slow, turtle- like walk became a fast- paced hare.

Just as I started calming down. Relieved I was nearly home. I swore I heard footsteps. I stopped for a minute, thinking that the footsteps would stop also, like in those horror movies. But the thuds kept coming. Closer and closer.

I started walking again. Faster this time. My heart beat faster than the one before. I could hear the footsteps sounding louder and louder. And I realized that running wasn't going to work. I had to use self defense.

I swung my bag around, eyes squeezed shut tight, and screamed, "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU PERV!!"

When I felt the bag hit something, opened my eyes. One at a time. I let out a little scream and took a few steps back. "Sorry." I squeaked.

"You should be." Shinji said, rubbing his red cheek.

I took a deep breath to calm myself.

"What were you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" I asked heatedly. He gave me a sarcastic look. "Yes, I wanted to torture you as much as possible and see you squirming on the driveway where many people can witness me hurting you."

"Don't do that anymore!" I cried. "You're telling me? You passed me five minutes ago!" He retorted, "I was supposed to reach home before you, like always!"

And we bickered throughout the whole walk home, which wasn't very long, by they way.

After that, I completely ignored him, since my way of making peace was indifference. Even after he went to work, I didn't even bother to tell him to buy anything on his way back, I just sat on the couch, watching a horror movie. He didn't bother saying anything either, when would he?

"Don't open the door idiot!" I muttered, as the girl in the movie opened the mysterious door. Then a man with a chainsaw popped out and she screamed. I took two popcorn and popped them in my mouth. "I told you so." I said, quite snobbishly, if I must say so myself.

Then I heard something rustle on my right, and on instinct, I swung around to look at the noise. It was just the trees. I stared at it for a moment, entranced by the rhythm of the wind.

Then, quite frightened by the screaming coming from the movie, threw my bowl of popcorn in the air and screamed myself.

"Aw, man!" I moaned as I started picking out pieces of popcorn out of my hair.

After picking up all the popcorn off the floor, I dove under the coffee table to pick up any that had fallen under there. Then, I heard more rustling. Thinking it was the trees again, I resumed with my chore. But, noticing something different, I hesitated. This rustling was coming from behind me.

I tried getting my head up as fast as I could and hit the back of my head on the table.

"Ow." I groaned, pressing on the place I had hit.

I froze for a moment as I heard the rustling again.

I placed my hand on the seat of the chair and slowly pushed myself up. Halfway up, I stopped and picked up anything hard I could get my free hand on at that moment, which just happened to be a bowl filled with dirty popcorn.

I pushed myself up quickly, ready with the bowl in hand, but found that the window in kitchen was open. I heaved a sigh of relief. It was just the curtains.

"Get a grip on yourself Hikari." I muttered to myself, "You're getting paranoid. So what if some female kidnapper is on the loose, probably at this very neighborhood right now?"

An owl hooted somewhere in the distance and I jumped a foot into the air.

"That's it, I'm going to find things that really hurt." I murmured. The only thing I could think of was the items in Shinji's room, and I was pretty reluctant to go in there. _Suck it up_. I told myself, _He's been in your room several times. Just go in, get the stuff, and get out._

So I did.

But, I couldn't help noticing some things.

_His room is so dirty!_ I mused, my eyebrows scrunched in obvious frustration, _And, _eew! _Are those his clothes from the last few weeks or something? It's okay Hikari, just look away and don't think about it._

And that's what I did.

"They've got to be here somewhere." I whispered to myself, "Think! Where would a eighteen year old boy hide a baseball bat, a hammer, glass rod, a bamboo stick, and a spoon?"

And that's when it came to me.

If it was anything unusual, they were usually in the closet. If the things Haruka complained about were true. And thank goodness Shinji didn't keep his clothes in his closet, because if he did, I would've died of embarrassment right there, then Shinji would've found me. But then dieing was a good thing. Right?

When I found all necessary items, I slinked back to my room. I don't know why I was being extra quiet. It was probably still the paranoia.

I placed the glass rod under my bed, the bamboo stick, under the sheets, the baseball bat was squeezed between the wall and my bed, just in case I needed it fast, and the hammer was under the pillow.

I looked at what I'd done in triumph. No one would notice anything different. Except the bulge under my blanket where the bamboo stick was. But then, I would be under the covers, so no one would see anything unusual.

I glanced at my clock. It read 9: 45. This wasn't very unusual. Sometimes, Shinji worked late at night, he'd been later before.

After I took a nice, hot bath, brushed my teeth and hair, and changed into my pajamas, I opened up a book that was getting to be popular now- a- days. As I was reading the book Haruka had recommended to me to read (or forced me, but she didn't think there was a difference), I started dozing off. Reading was just like homework to me.

The door opened soon after that and Shinji walked in coolly.

"Have you seen my-?" He started. I squeaked in surprise, interrupting him. "Aren't you breaking that rule with the room thing?" I asked. "There it is." he said, slinking his hand under the covers.

I pounded his arm with two fists.

"You get that hand out of there you pervert!" I screamed, my face flushed. "Relax." He said, not even wincing, "I'm just getting this out." And he took out the bamboo stick out. "Oh." I murmured, looking away sheepishly. "And I shouldn't be talking about the room rule." He continued, "You broke it too, if you have this."

I remained silent, waiting for him to ask why I had it in my room.

When he didn't, and headed for the door, my eyebrows shot up in surprise and without even thinking, I shouted at him, "Aren't you going to ask me why I dug through your room to get it?"

He gracefully lifted one of his eyebrows. "Why should I?" "Well, I just dug through your stuff. _And_ I went into your room." I said, my gaze still somewhere else other than him, "By the way, you should _really_ clean the place up."

I looked up at him, and saw him glaring at me.

"Whatever the reason, it's not my problem." He said. Ignoring him, I told him anyway. "B- but, Jun said there's a mad girl- kidnapper on the loose in this very neighborhood tonight!" I wailed, "I don't want to be kidnapped, Shinji! I really don't!" At this point, I had unconsciously crawled out of bed and clung on to his arm.

It must've been very awkward for him, but I really didn't want to be abducted by a mad-man.

"G-get back on the bed Stupid Girl." He said awkwardly. I shook my head fiercely. He tried shaking me off. "Get off me!" "I'm scared Shinji! I truly am!" And I looked at him.

He sighed and practically dragged me to my bed.

"Please don't go." I whimpered. I couldn't help I was acting like a spoiled brat. This was like being five all over again, except, without the willing protection.

He muttered something unintelligible.

"What was that?" I asked quietly. "I said…." And again, Shinji said something I couldn't make out. "Speak louder." I said. "I said, _I won't let anything happen to you_. Geez." He turned away. I felt my heart pounding. It had actually started pounding long ago, but I had ignored it.

"You promise?" I asked him. "Yes, I promise." He murmured. "Then say it again." I said, crossing my arms. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you." He said quickly, "Now go to bed." "Are you ready to say that with one hand on the bible?" I asked him suspiciously. He shot me a menacing look I was already used to.

"First of all, I'm not Christian. Second, if I were, yes. Now shut up." He was very frustrated at this point. I had already gotten the point, but I couldn't help asking once more. "You promise sincerely?" I asked.

He crouched down next to the bed where he had forcefully laid me.

"I promise." He said slowly. I could feel the blood rushing up to my face. "You're not kidding, right?" I muttered.

I could swear amusement flashed across his eyes, even though his face was emotionless. I had learned that Shinji might be the master of masks, but he couldn't hide anything if you looked deep into his eyes.

He placed a hand roughly on my head and looked straight into my eyes, making my heart go crazy.

"I _swear_ I will not let _anything_ happen to you." He said in a serious tone I'd never heard him use before. "You promised." I gasped out. My heart was pounding so fast, I couldn't even breath!

His hand trailed down some hair over my shoulder as he let it fall.

Now, I was sure he could feel my heart beating.

"Yes, I promised. Now _please_ go to sleep." He said in a weary tone.

Then, as though he had just realized what he was doing, he leapt up, cleared his throat and walked out the door.

Realization hit me hard when he closed the door.

I realized a lot of things.

That I was sweating, that my face felt hot, my heart was pounding harder than I thought, and that this only happened when I was around Shinji.

Surprisingly, I didn't freak out, like I thought I would. Not like I ever thought this would happen. _Especially_ with Shinji.

"Oh." I said, "_Oh._ I see now. I think."

My eyes were wide as I looked down at where my heart would be. I placed a hand gently on the spot.

I'm experiencing a crush.

My first crush. _Ever._

I liked Shinji Ikari.

So _that's_ the weird feeling I've been experiencing for the last month. I frowned ever so slightly. I didn't like this feeling, but liked it at the same time.

Wait. I started feeling this since last month? I've only been living with him for three months and I like him? Doesn't that make me a hormonal crazy fan- girl?!

"Aw man!" I groaned, "This sucks!" Who knew that Hikari would turn into a fan- girl. And with the one guy she wouldn't have _any_ chance with.

Then the door opened again.

Shinji came in and asked, "Hey, you don't happen to have my baseball ba-" I shoved him out as hard as I could.

"CAN'T YOU SEE I'M HAVING A MOMENT!" I screamed at him, "GET OUT!" "Be quiet! I just want my-" But I never found out what he wanted, because I slammed the door on him.

I wanted to hit my head on something, and this urge was stronger than the time with Jun. And _that _would be saying something.

Well, at least this time, I had something to bang my head on.

**AN. FORGIVE ME ABOUT THE CLIFFY LAST CHAPTER!! I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE IT WAS A CLIFFY! No I seriously didn't. It was really surprising for me when I got my first, "You left a ciffy, I hate you" review. But, h****ah, one week. That's… pretty good. You people must be crying tears of joy. Hikari finally realized it! Yes! No, I'm just kidding. Maybe I should change back to a whole year. This is going **_**way**_** to fast in my opinion. But, I have a lot of ideas, and they're all chapter stories unfortunately, and I can't work on two chapter stories at once, or I'll quit on one. My greatest goal in fan fiction is to finish this story, and Contestshipping story, and a Pokeshipping story. And I already have the story, idea, and plot, and everything! I just need to figure out which one to write first. Somewhere near the end of this story, I'll probably put a poll up. So look out for that. I **_**want**_** to write in Shinji's POV now, but, writing in Hikari's POV is so much easier. So you people tell me, is seeing someone fall for you more interesting? Or falling for someone? I'm thinking still keeping it in Hikari's POV, because I've already wrote someone falling for another person. I've never had first- hand experience on having a crush, because I've never liked someone, but my friends've explained it to me. I would've put more flashbacks, but this is eleven pages already, and to me, that's really long. I know I shouldn't be complaining to those of you who write way more than me. I'm… content with this chapter. That's all I'm going to say.**

**Kahmelion**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Haruka's POV**

_I knew it._

_Of __course_ I noticed it.

The way she was very careful not to mention him. How she'd make sure she didn't turn her head and ask 'what about' when we _did_ mention him. It was so obvious. You could be blind and figure it out.

I'm pretty sure Kasumi noticed it too.

We were both very good at noticing these things. And as much as I wanted to. I didn't interfere. I'd never been very good at matchmaker anyways. Kasumi didn't like nosy people, so she never became one. Satoshi was oblivious to all that was going around him, so he wasn't really a problem, not that he'd want to help if he knew.

Jun on the other hand, would try very hard not to spread it around.

God knows what'd happen to him if he did.

Hikari was acting very weird these days because of Shinji. Not that she told anyone. She tries very hard not to do anything out of the ordinary.

She tries _very_ hard.

Too hard, that I figured it out. Eventually.

"I feel sorry for him." Satoshi muttered during lunch.

"For who?" I asked, opening up my own lunch, which was, by the way, very organized. "Shinji of course." He answered after swallowing whatever he had been chewing, "He just sits there at lunch, surrounded by no one. Talking to no one." At this point, Satoshi turned his ear a bit toward Hikari as this was where she usually interrupted to say something extremely rude about him.

When Hikari went on eating, Satoshi continued with the topic. It was as though he _wanted_ her to say something about him.

"Yup." He sighed, "The only company he has are probably those girls that like gossiping about him." I saw her hand tighten around her chopsticks. Did that boy know what was spewing from his mouth!

"You're an idiot." I heard Kasumi mutter at Satoshi as she pretended to examine her lunch. "What?" He asked, turning his head toward her, "Did you say something?"

"No." She answered, her eyes wide as though she didn't believe what she was hearing, "Nothing at all." "Hm." Satoshi grumbled, "It's too quiet around here. Usually, even Jun has something to say!"

But I knew exactly why Jun had been very careful not to talk today.

He knew perfectly well as all of us that his tongue was like slippery ice. Without even himself noticing it, anything could slip right off his tongue. So for the whole day, he had pretended he was examining something and staying quiet so he wouldn't stand out.

"Why won't anybody _talk_!?" Satoshi exclaimed in a exasperated voice, "This silence sounds very eerie." "Oh, I'll give you something _everybody_ will talk about." Kasumi managed to say through gritted teeth, glaring at him so intensely I half expected him to burst into sudden combustion right there.

I rolled my eyes at their immaturity and continued eating as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

Each class went by ridiculously slow. I couldn't help but let a little sigh pass through my lips, which I rarely did. But no one seemed to notice.

I'd already read over what the teacher was teaching, so my eyes drifted on Hikari. I wondered if I was the only one that noticed her scribbling furiously on her notebook. Which she rarely ever did ever. A small smile graced my lips as I saw her determined expression. Of course it wasn't to concentrate on the notes.

Well, in a way, it was.

She was trying to keep her concentration _off_ of a certain purple haired boy a couple seats behind us.

This was the only class they were together, and I could tell she was trying not to cherish the moment.

I leaned over and whispered, "Stop scribbling, and act bored, and maybe nobody will notice that you're acting strange."

She gave me a confused look.

"Wha-?"

The bell rang, cutting her off.

I stuffed everything in my bag quickly and hurried out the door. Not that I wasn't keen on boasting about how I noticed she had been acting strangely, but my next class was quite far.

"I feel like an old lady." Kasumi said, catching up to me, "My back is in so much pain."

"That's why you should keep your back straight. Like me!"

"Oh geez." Kasumi exclaimed, "You surprised me!" She snapped at Jun as he raced to be beside us. "Aw, your senses are just dull, and your mind isn't as sharp." He said as he gave her a cunning wink.

"You say that to my face you-" She threatened as she took a step forward. "I actually did." He said, cutting her off. "Smart- aleck." Kasumi muttered.

"Where are you heading off to?" I asked Jun. My pace was fast, but not as fast as his, so I had to run to keep up. "Calculus." He said, "I don't like math though."

Our paths separated at the stairway next to the music room.

Kasumi and I ran towards our next class (which was English), and we were almost there too, if I hadn't just noticed that my bag felt a bit lighter than usual.

I checked my bag, murmuring prayers that I didn't leave something behind in my other class. But sure enough, I had left my favorite red notebook. I had quite liked the doodles I had drawn on the cover too. I groaned and told Kasumi that I'd be back, and if I was late, then to explain to the teacher I was late. Hopefully, they'd let me off the hook. All the teachers adored me.

I ran back up the stairs, my mind intent on my notebook. Determined not to stop. But I forgot this determination as soon as heard the most beautiful sound coming out of one of the nearby classrooms.

I slowed down to a stop, turning my head left and right to find the sound.

I listened to each of the doors so I wouldn't disturb any of the classes going on. At last, I found the right door. And for once, I wasn't drowning in anxiety and suspense in front of the door.

I opened the door a crack, because I knew if I opened the door fully, the music would stop.

I couldn't put the feeling in the music into words. I couldn't say anything. I'd always thought music appreciation was lame. Ever since I'd tried it with CD's. But this. This was way different. CD's were mixed, they weren't the original. Technology put feeling into the song. CD music was fake. The real thing though.

Wow.

It seemed that the music would go on for eternity. Never ending. Living forever, continually wounding itself around my ears. It was a mystery. It sounded so close, but so far away.

I breathed in deeply. As though if I did, the musical notes would be sucked inside my brain and be permanently implanted there.

Somewhere in the distance, the bell rang that signaled class to start. But as I heard it, it was distant. No meaning. Compared to what I was hearing.

"You might as well just come in. I can see you. Haruka." A ridiculously familiar voice called in.

I was broken from my trance, and without even thinking, I opened the door and asked, "What?" As though I hadn't heard him right.

I usually would've screamed, "You!" and pointed a finger at him as though he had done something very wrong. But instead, I blurted out, "That was beautiful!"

"Wasn't it?" Shuu asked as he flicked his unusually green hair. Somehow, his reaction hadn't really surprised me.

Shuu was sitting on the bench of a beautiful white grand piano.

"What's the piece called?" I asked him. This question made a small flicker of surprise flit across his face. But he regained his cocky expression almost immediately after. "Fantasie Impromptu by Chopin."

"Could you play it again?" I asked him, almost timidly. His face was set in a bemused expression as he asked, "Why?" "It's beautiful, as I said before." I said, sounding extremely lame in my opinion, "And I want to see your fingers. If you actually played it."

"Of course I played it." He said with a expression that screamed 'duh', "Are you questioning my talent?" "Can I see?" I asked.

He smirked.

"Sure." He answered with a shrug, "Why not?"

He started the piece all over again and I walked slowly up to him. I peeked as his fingers, amazed as I saw them flying across the keys, barely pressing them. They moved even more gracefully then the player.

But what surprised me most, was the emotion that was leaking out his body. Like a container over- filled with water. It was not of boasting, or showing off. It was a very calm and gentle feeling. His emotions changed with the music, and that seemed to be the very thing I admired about him, I found out at that moment.

His emotions changed once more as the music changed mood once again.

I officially loved Chopin.

He had created the most beautiful piece I have ever heard. I would forever lay off those punk- rock music with too much screaming. The strange thing was, I hadn't even noticed it had a ton of screaming in it until now.

"Do you want to hear another one?" He asked, sounding almost eager. I nodded my head, equally as eager.

And he burst into another piece.

It was completely different from Fantasie Impromptu. Very jumpy, very exciting, and sounding very happy. Not at all calm like the last piece.

And without even knowing, a smile had been plastered onto my face, my foot tapping along with the very difficult rhythm. I lost him as soon as the piece turned itself around and quieted down.

No sooner had it became calm, it was happy and jumpy again.

A very confusing piece, I confirmed, confusing, yet strangely happy.

His hands still moved gracefully, even though it sounded like they were pounding on the keys. His finger pressed the keys lightly, yet hard enough to project the right amount of sound and moved onto the next notes. His expression seemed so confident, if he made any mistakes, I didn't notice.

His eyes never left his fingers, but it felt as though he was closing his eyes and just playing whatever he thought felt right.

"What was that one called?" I asked, almost whispering, as he ended the piece.

"Polonaise in A flat 'Heroique' Op. 53 by Chopin." He answered, louder than my voice level though.

"Is he your favorite composer?" I asked him, "Chopin." "His music just seems to fit me." He said, "I mean, I like Bach and Beethoven and Clementi too of course." "Who?" I asked. "Other composers." He answered.

I reached out slowly and pressed the highest key on the piano.

"That's a C." He said. "It's a very beautiful note." I said without thinking, but I didn't feel embarrassed for saying it. "I personally like the F." He said, pressing another, different key. I nodded, almost approvingly. "That's a very beautiful note too." I agreed.

"Then you'll probably like the notes D, E, G, A, and B too." He said with a smile.

That's right.

A _smile_. Not a smirk. A _smile_. With a bit of teeth showing and everything.

Not knowing what to do, I smiled back.

"I want to learn." I said, brushing the keys with the tips of my fingers delicately, as though it'd break if I dared to touch too hard. I heard him chuckle. "Too late, don't you think?" He asked, "I mean, I started when I was four." "Then, I just want to learn one song." I said, "The first one you played, Fantasie Impromptu."

His emerald eyes widened.

"Do you know how hard that piece is for a beginner?" He asked, "I don't even know if you have talent. I have perfect pitch, so, I was able to play it in my second year of piano, but, you?"

"Please?" I asked, begging with my eyes, sliding beside him on the bench. I felt him scoot away a bit, but I didn't mind.

"It's my favorite song in the world!" I exclaimed. "Since when?" He asked, as though he was challenging me. "Since now! Please!" I clasped my hands together and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Well, you've got to relax your whole arm first." He said, amusement in his voice. And with that, he took my right arm and shook it until I couldn't feel it anymore.

No matter _how_ unpleasant it felt, I kept the complaint to myself.

"Fantasie Impromptu has four sharps." He said, placing my finger on a few of black keys and a few white keys, leaving my hand in a rather uncomfortable position, "since it's in C sharp minor."

"Four sharps." I repeated, "C sharp minor."

"You don't have to implant it in your brain." He said, "Just let your fingers lead you. Remember the position that your hand is in." "Okay." I said. "With your fingers." He finished.

_What?_

I had no idea what he was talking about, but he was leading my fingers at the moment, and I didn't want to waste time making him explain everything to me. Truth was. I had no idea what sharps were either. Or which key was C. I had to admit it. I was completely hopeless. But I could learn as he taught me. That was my way of excelling at things.

"Close your eyes." He ordered. I gave him a surprised look. "Why?" I asked. "Just do it." He said, rolling his eyes. In the end, I did as I was told, and it didn't hurt my pride one bit.

He pressed my fingers on my left hand in a pattern that I recognized as the introduction. He repeated over and over again. Probably to get me to remember it. And at that moment, I got what he meant about memorizing with my fingers.

The pressure was gently lifted off my fingers and it suddenly felt like one of the mountaintops in Russia. "Now you try." He said.

I furrowed my eyebrows as I struggled to remember what the pattern was.

A chord. Another chord. But my fingers accidentally forgot the distance and pressed the wrong notes. My hand recoiled at the sound, yet something pressed it back down. "Try again." he said in a reassuring voice.

A chord. Another chord. Glide, and press.

I felt his fingers press on top of mine and jumped a bit. This closing eyes thing really wasn't working out for me.

He showed me the next pattern. Well, pressed it for me repeatedly, which helped me just as much.

"It's better if you just memorize the whole piece with your fingers." He explained, "Because that way, you can actually feel the music. Though there's more of a chance that you'd mess up if you closed your eyes, so don't do that."

"So does that mean I can open my eyes?" I asked hopefully. "'Course not." He said, I could hear the smile in his voice as I scowled furiously at his answer, "Trust me, the way I'm teaching you is way better than how my teacher taught me. In the end, I just quiet all the lessons and taught myself."

"Then shouldn't I just learn this piece all by myself?" I asked him, opening my eyes anyways (What would he do about it?). "You're the one who was just _begging_ me for me to teach you how to play this piece." He said.

I scowled and was about to say something back when the bell rang.

"What? What was that?" I asked. "The bell." Shuu answered, "You know, the one to go home." I jumped up.

"I missed a whole period!?" I screamed.

"Calm down." He said, standing up to place a hand on my shoulder, "It's good to ditch class sometimes."

But I wasn't listening to him. I was packing up my stuff.

"Sorry Shuu," I said, "I guess you can't teach me after all. I can't afford to miss one class everyday or stay here a few extra hours or something. Bye!"

"Hey!" He called. I turned around so fast I became dizzy.

"You're not really going to leave without this, would you?" He asked, waving a familiar red notebook in the air. "Oh!" I gasped, "Throw it, will you!?"

It left his hands and landed on my outstretched arms. Either I was really good at catching, or he was good at throwing, but I didn't have time to ponder about this, I had to get going. My mom was expecting me home tonight.

"Thank you!" I called as I raced out the room.

And as much of a hurry I was in.

I couldn't help but slow down and turn around with a soft smile as I heard the beginning notes of Fantasie Impromptu.

**AN. How long has it been? Over three months right? I'm so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!! School started! Of course you all know that! And for the first few weeks, I was pretty bad at Algebra, it's a 98 now, so I'm fine. I feel very insecure telling everyone my age, but, I just turned 13. Yeah. That means, I'm in seventh grade. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(Cue dramatic music) Yeah. I'm sorry if this chapter was really lame. My writing skills are somewhat to be desired. Yeah. The past few months, I've been climbing over something called a Writer's Block (Cue dramatic music). Yes. Every author gets it at some point (I hope). And then, sometimes, I didn't feel like writing, and I owe this really stupid video for my friend because she drew me a picture of Annabeth from the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series (All those who have not read must!!!!!!!!!!!!) Anyways, I've been having a hard time. Yeah, okay, I'm obsessed with my piano. So what? I have this weird thing where I can memorize anything with my fingers, and I just had to boast about it (I'm being really pig- headed). Yeah. I'll try to update soon.**

**-Er than I did this chapter. Happy reading!**

**-Kahmelion**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Kasumi's POV**

Rain noisily pattered against my window.

I looked out and stared straight ahead of me. Not seeing anything, yet seeing everything.

Understanding.

The rain went on and pounded harder against the glass rather out of beat. I switched my focus from outside, to my reflection. My red hair stood out against the dark room in which I sat in.

I took in a deep breath through my mouth and let it all out through my nose. Gently lowering my head to my crossed hands. Still staring at my reflection, I started thinking. I noticed I was wallowing in my own self- pity and loneliness and immediately scolded myself for thinking such negative things.

But, I knew it was all true.

I could see that Hikari's mind was somewhere other than complaints these days. She now gazed determinedly at her work and concentrated (yet she still made bad grades), it didn't really take a genius to find out why. She looked even more innocent gazing blankly at anything in front of her and blinking rapidly when you bothered to call her name. When you _did_ bother, she would show her old, fiery personality, then slowly duck back in to the outer shell that I never noticed she had.

Haruka seemed to have changed so much.

She rarely seemed to be at the last few classes these days. She'd fidget her finger every now and then in some weird patterns, and glance at the clock every now and again. Everything that _Hikari_ would do. The brunette didn't take notes anymore, and I think she peeks into the music room when we pass it when she thinks we aren't looking. I wasn't very surprised she'd let off on all the competition with Shuun, what _really_ surprised me was that she seemed not to care about school anymore. She still got good grades though. That was on thing that never changed.

I'd never seen such two air- headed people in my entire life!

But… Where was I left?

I felt so alone…

I blew at my bangs in an irritated fashion, but it hardly budged.

_Well, things happen for a reason right?_ I thought to myself, _Might as well go with it and see where this leads to._ So I tucked myself into bed and slept, waiting for another school day to arrive.

XxXxXx

I woke to the much giggling downstairs.

I rolled my eyes and got out of my bed, already used to the sudden burst of chilling that caused my spine to tingle. Who needed an alarm clock when you had three noisy sisters?

"I'm up! I'm up!" I called as I walked downstairs after going through my morning routine.

"Breakfast is ready!" Sakura sang in her happy, sing-song way. She put a plate of pancakes, strawberries, eggs, and bacon on the table.

I scooted myself closer to the table, trying to tune out my other sisters' completely irrelevant prattling.

"Isn't this outfit the cutest?!" Ayame cooed, clasping her hands in admiration. "Eh, I've seen cuter." Botan said, observing it a bit while trying to pick up her bacon with her fork. "Botan!" Sakura scolded, "It's lovely Ayame."

I stayed quiet. I honestly didn't know what to think of the outfit. It was too frilly for my taste, and pink. It seemed to fit her though.

"I'm off to school now." I said as I excused myself. "What!?" Sakura exclaimed, "That was quick! The school wouldn't even be open at this time!"

"I'll take the long way around," I reasoned, "besides, I might be able to catch Hikari."

I knew Hikari wouldn't be going to school this early. She's not much of a morning person.

I sighed and looked up to the sky as I was walking down a particularly steep hill. My eyebrows scrunched in confusion at what I saw.

Had the sky always been such a dull blue? And since when did the sun start feeling cold? A passing breeze flew by and a shivered. There must be an oncoming storm.

I started walking faster when I caught sight of Shinji from behind.

What a coincidence!

For a moment, I actually thought I had enough courage to walk up to him and greet him how I'd usually greet everyone else. Then, I thought better of it. I wasn't particularly fond of him at the moment. As cliché as it sounded, I wished Hikari had never fallen for him. It was better when it was just the four of us.

I was only a few feet away from him when I thought better of it. I slowed down, making sure we had some distance between each other before starting to walk again.

How do you act towards someone you resent?

I just kind of stared at him from behind until he startled me by turning around and glaring at me for a moment.

"It's you." He said. I regained myself and said in rude tone, "Yeah, it's me!"

He turned around and kept on walking.

Annoyance.

I hated it when people did that.

"Hey, hey!" I shouted as I ran to catch up with him, "You shouldn't do that to people you brat!" I had half a mind to pull out something from the secret compartment in my backpack and smack him on the head as I did with Satoshi.

"You seriously get on my nerves." I panted when I was side by side with him. "That's funny," He said sarcastically, "I barely said two words to you." "That makes 9 now." I pointed out.

He rolled his eyes.

"Look buster," I said in a lecturing tone as anger started to boil up, "I'm sick and tired of your attitude." "We barely deal with each other," He replied, "Why would _you_ care if my attitude made you sick and tired?"

"Well, knowing how you and Hikari are _so_ friendly that you two _live_ together. That'd be dealing with you more than when you guys weren't living together." I stated. "Wow really?" He snorted, "And that loud mouth hates me."

And I thought he was worthy enough to be called the King of Sarcasm.

"Well," He started, "We only have a few more months until we all graduate and you don't ever have to see me again." "Wish it'd come sooner." I muttered.

When school came into view, I couldn't help it. It was as though I was getting ahead of myself. It was a feeling I had. A feeling that I kind of agreed with. He was right. We only had a few months left until we graduated. Only a few months left until we all went our separate ways.

"Take care of her okay?" I whispered so softly that I could barely hear myself. But I knew he caught it. He just didn't act like it. I looked up at him before running toward school.

I ran straight toward our tree.

The tree we always sit under for lunch. Always had sat under ever since we entered this school.

I slumped down, leaning my head against the trunk and groaned as what I'd just said registered into my head. Why'd I say that!?

There was barely anyone so silence hung in the air.

I was deep in my thoughts when I heard the most ludicrous noise. It sounded like a hungry bear! Not that I've ever heard a hungry bear…

I froze when I heard it coming directly above me.

The tree's branches were pretty low, so I slowly stood up and peeked over a sturdy branch that was a bit hard to look over.

I smiled and swallowed back a laugh as I realized it was just a sleeping Satoshi with his cap over his head. His mouth was wide open, but I knew he wasn't asleep because if he was, there would've been a trail of drool coming directly from his mouth.

I shoved him off the branch, knowing it wouldn't hurt him and told him to stop faking.

He rubbed the back of his head and muttered, "Didn't have to be so hostile."

"Are you usually here this early in the morning?" I asked him as each of us sat on the other side of the tree. "Nah." He said, "I decided I needed a change in my routine. You know, besides sleeping, eating, going to school, coming home, and sleeping again. So here I am! Now, I'm going to school before eating!"

"Ha, ha. Very funny." I said robotically, but with a smile.

Another silence.

There were awkward silences with everyone else when no one knew what to say. Then, there were silences with Satoshi. These were the moments I liked best.

"The weather's nice, huh?" He asked me. I looked up once more. But there still seemed to be signs of a storm. "I guess." I answered.

"It's days like these I like best." He said, "Rare to see them during Autumn, though. "Mm…" I said, not helping myself and thinking, "Not me."

I could practically see him straighten his back as he spotted Hikari and Haruka and called them over.

"Good Morning!" Haruka greeted. "What's up with Kasumi?" Hikari asked.

It was surprising how easy it was for her to figure that out. She'd barely been paying attention to herself let alone my own problems these days.

"I'm just being sluggish this morning." I said, trying to cover a fake yawn, "I went to sleep really late last night."

"Of course you did." She said with a unconvinced tone. Did this mean she'd sorted out her own feelings?

"I hate my fingers." Haruka said, out of the blue, "They're so short and stubby." "Probably from writing too much." I joked. Not that she wrote much now.

Hikari took Haruka's hand in her own and looked at them closely. "Nothing you can't fix." She said in informative tone with her pointer finger high in the air, "I've heard that playing the piano will make them nice and slender." "Really?" Haruka said, instantly interested. Then, she started thinking.

About what, I don't know. I just knew that we were starting all over on the acting weird thing.

During first, second, third, and fourth period, I couldn't get a word out them. Even at the end of class when we had a few minutes to chat a bit.

During lunch, one of us would occasionally throw in a random topic, but even with the few conversations going around, it seemed so empty.

Even in P.E. and Home Economics, they couldn't concentrate on a single thing they were doing. Is that what you usually act like when you liked someone for the first time? Were they so deep in this feeling that they didn't even stop and think about how long it was going to last?

Okay, now I was just being plain mean.

Aw, great!

I'd just poured too much water into the cake batter. It was good enough that Haruka had burnt one of our two cakes already.

I scooped up as much water hanging around at the top of the batter as I could and dumped them in the sink. Usually, Hikari would at least have scolded me for not concentrating on what I was doing, but she didn't seem to notice.

Okay, if no one was going to talk about stuff I like or at all, I'd just have to relate to them.

"It's funny how hormones work." I said, subtly bringing up a conversation.

"It's even funnier if your hormones are attracted to the worst person possible." Hikari said while making the second batter to make up for the first cake. "You just shouldn't like some people." Haruka agreed.

"Does attraction make you act as though you have no brain?" I asked.

"Not really." Haruka said, "Just wants to make you change." "So you like someone?" I asked carelessly.

She straightened her spine at what she had just said what I had just comprehended because of it. "Well…" She started.

I guess she thought she could hide it.

"Shuu _does_ have some good points." I said. Haruka seemed to be even more surprised. "I guess he could if you thought about it." Hikari said as though she'd always known. Who knows? Perhaps she has.

"On the other hand," I said, "I really can't find anything about Shinji." "You know what? Neither can-" Hikari trailed off. They were both being really slow about everything.

They both seemed to think that I had just read their minds.

Ha, ha. Payback.

"Did you both really think you could hide it?" I asked in a disbelieving voice, "It's really not that hard."

"You know, now that I think about it, Satoshi can really be cute sometimes." Hikari said.

But, I was better than that.

"Yes, he can be." I agreed.

Haruka smiled and said, "I wish you would act like you liked him instead of hitting him. Although, it _is_ one of your strange ways to show affection."

"I can't help that." I said, shrugging.

That's when I didn't feel like talking anymore.

Throughout the rest of the day, I didn't try making conversation anymore. And by the end of the day, all the silences seemed a bit comforting a sad way.

We were falling apart before we were supposed to. How sad.

When school ended, I didn't bother looking up at the sky. I just _knew_ that the weather had gotten worse.

"Kasumi?" I heard from behind me.

I turned around, completely taken aback by Satoshi.

He ran to catch up with me before he asked, "Why are you going this way? Don't you usually head the other way for swimming?" "I feel like ditching today." I said. Haruka can ditch classes now, so why can't I ditch something?

There came another silence.

"It's not that bad you know." Satoshi said. I thought he was trying to strike a conversation about the weather so I said, "Seems like a storm's brewing."

"No," He said, turning to face me, "I mean, it's not going to end like how you think it will." "What are you talking about?" I asked him truthfully.

He smiled an all-knowing smile and said, "Life is a cool thing to experience." "Really…?" I said really slowly to tell him that he was acting a bit too weird for my liking.

"Did you know that every heart has a small bell?" Satoshi asked me. "No, not really." I said, not knowing what he was leading onto.

"Well, there is," He said, "everyone has one. Whenever someone feels bad, lonely, or thinks they need someone to save them, they ring this bell. But, the sound of it depends on how strong someone's heart is. If their heart is big, the bell rings really loudly. If their heart is weak, barely anyone can hear it."

"Really?" I said. This wasn't going anywhere.

He looked a bit distant and not at all embarrassed when he said these things. It seemed as though he had always said them.

He didn't even look embarrassed when he said the next statement to me.

The one statement that made me want to freeze in my tracks and start crying in relief that someone here is actually there for me.

He grinned at me.

"Everything's going to be okay." He said, "I just know it. And you should never doubt animal instincts like mine."

I regained myself and managed to choke out, "Yeah. Animal. You even eat, sleep, and think like one." He laughed and said that he couldn't deny that.

I returned him a smile.

Satoshi really was something. It was no wonder that I stuck with him from that time I met him when I was ten. I must've known that he would turn into someone special. And you should never doubt me when it comes down to this stuff.

He kept me company all the way to the fork in the road where we went our separate ways and I found myself anticipating tomorrow when I would get to see him again.

I kept on smiling even when I couldn't see him anymore.

And I didn't stop even when I got home and heard Boton and Ayame arguing about something I didn't catch. Nor when Sakura came up to remind me to do my homework. It would've been creepy to any other person, but I thought it kind of made sense.

I looked out my open window and was pretty surprised when I found that the sky seemed an even brighter blue than before, the sun felt warm and the passing breeze even seemed to savor everything it passed by.

And all the while I was doing anything the rest of the day and even before I went to sleep the one sentence seemed to resound in my head.

"_I heard it, your heart, all the way from home."_

**I know I'm evil. How long has it been? 5 months? I know you guys must be so exasperated with me. But I was really busy. I shouldn't even be this busy! I'm only 13! This seems so sappy now that I read it no, but I'm such a sucker for stuff like this. And the heart thing. I don't know. I guess I must be watching way more Boys Before Flowers than I should. I think this is only chapter where I thought so long and hard about it that I almost cried. You should really thank Taylor Swift that I managed to write this chapter. I've been obsessed with her songs lately. My favorite songs are I'd Lie and Fearless… Back to the topic. I was actually waiting for the 70th review cause it just bothered me that it was 69. I'm weird like that. I know I probably should've posted an Ikarishipping chapter, but think about it. I put Contestshipping, I should put Pokeshipping, also. Ah, well. I'm really grateful to everyone that didn't give up on this story, which is no one! Listen to me! It's like this story is finished! It almost is… Like the chapter said, they only have a few months left… Well, Happy Reading! (Haven't said that in a long time.)**

**Kahmelion**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Hikari's POV**

Only a few days later did we hear Shirona's name again.

I remember Reiji said at one point that Shirona's wedding was in late Spring. I mean, that's lovely and all, but does it really make sense to throw a party for it during early Autumn then?

"So you want to throw it in a few days?" I asked Reiji quietly, so that Shinji didn't hear me.

"Yup!" He answered cheerfully, "And I really think she'd appreciate it if you went."

It seemed as though he was completely avoiding the problem!

"Yeah." I said a little less enthusiastically than I would've liked, "That's great…" Don't get me wrong. It really _was_ great. I mean, it was her wedding we were celebrating! Everyone wants to celebrate that! Unless the bride just _happens_ to be your childhood to present crush or love, or, whatever Shinji calls it!

"Would she really?" I asked, a bit unsure, "I mean, we've only met a few times." "I'm sure she'd be just _fine_ with it!" He said, I could almost see him waving it off, "Besides, I think it'd be easier for Shinji." His tone had dropped a bit when he said this along with his enthusiasm.

"It'd be easier for Shinji if what?" I asked, "If I were there?" "Why not?" He said with a sigh, "I think he'd feel more comfortable about this if you were around." "You forget that Shinji is Shinji and most likely, he's not going to go." I pointed out, "I mean, he moved _out_ just because Shirona's staying there!"

"Well, that'll end soon, thank goodness." He said in a relieved tone.

There was a moment of silence as I let this sink into my brain.

"Ex- excuse me?" I asked as though unsure of what he'd just said, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"I thought I already told you two!" Reiji exclaimed, "The only reason I'm throwing this party so early is because Shirona and Daigo are studying abroad just for a little bit. They're barely coming back for their wedding. That's rotten luck, wouldn't you think?"

Not really.

I wasn't thinking very much at that moment.

All that I _could_ think of was what it would mean if Shirona moved out once more. That meant. I wouldn't have to cook for two people anymore, I could have anyone I wanted over, have the bathroom all to myself, not do as much chores, and overall lose Shinji.

"Are you still there?" Reiji asked.

I was immediately snapped back to my senses.

"Never better." I said, though it came out strangely.

"Oh, okay." He said, "It's weird though, I swear I told Shinji when he came over the other day." Something panged through me. "I guess he forgot." I said. "Highly unlikely." Reiji answered, "He was probably trying not to-"

"Reiji? Are you still there?" I whispered to the receiver.

"I'm here." He answered, "Snickers keeps me busy. I have to go now." And without another hesitation, he hung up.

I froze there a bit, listening to the rhythmic beeping coming from the phone.

He'd already known, had he?

I bit my lip and looked at the clock. It read 9:00.

There was no way he was sleeping so early. It was Fall Break for heaven's sake! I, myself, planned to stay up all night talking to Haruka and Kasumi on the phone! It was a kind of tradition for the three of us. On the first day of a certain break, we would talk to each other and see how long we were awake doing so. Our record is always somewhere near 5:30 until Kasumi completely collapses.

Speaking of telephones, it was my turn to call this time!

Eager to get my mind off this whole problem, I called both Haruka and Kasumi.

The bell rang a few times for both of them before they picked up.

"Ugh, I'm already so tired…" Kasumi groaned.

"No! Don't sleep on us _now_ Kasumi!" Haruka urged, "Just once, I would like to stay up the whole night!" I had to agree with this.

"I just can't believe you're still swimming in these weather conditions." I said. "There's something called an indoor swimming pool." She answered as if everyone knew this, "The only weather condition we don't swim in is if it's storming outside. As in, thunder-storming."

"That's got to be horrible!" Haruka exclaimed, "I'm sure I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything with this cold weather around me!" "Haruka," Kasumi started, as though teaching her a valuable lesson, "if you're going to be a swimmer, you gotta be tough and straightforward, you got to have been born ready for these conditions." "Wow," I said, "That'd be a great way to scare little kids."

"At least they'll give you a break in swimming." Kasumi said, "Remember what our Middle School track coach advised us if we complained we were tired?" "Erg…" Haruka shivered, "Don't remind me. I hope I never, ever, have another coach like her again! 'Run it off' what kind of advice is that?!"

I forced a laugh and my stomach felt squeezed together.

There was a little silence.

"You okay Hikari?" Kasumi asked, "You usually have a lot more to say than this." "Are you feeling okay?" Haruka asked in a worried tone. "Er-" is all I said. As much as I didn't want to talk anymore. This was a thing that we'd done for years.

"Can we do this some other time?" I asked, finally settling on one way to discontinue this conversation, "I feel really sleepy. I couldn't get much sleep last night, I was up studying really late." "Why not?" Kasumi said, "I completely agree with you." "I think some sleep would do you some good." Haruka agreed, and by the sound of it, she was nodding her head rapidly.

"Then, I'll call you whenever." I said. This time, I was the first to hang up.

I squished my head onto my pillow as though it'd make me feel better. It kind of did, in a way.

I grew drowsy after a while, and so that I wouldn't catch another cold, I pulled the covers over me and drifted off to sleep the best I could.

XxXxXx

While I was making breakfast the next morning, the silence usually in the air seemed very awkward, but I seemed to be the only one feeling it.

I tried to bring up some courage to ask him about what Reiji had told me over the phone, but whenever I felt something rise, it quickly went down.

Shinji was doing what he usually did in the morning. Watching the news. We used to fight over the remote, but after a few weeks, I decided it was totally useless to keep his morning news.

I tried to imitate my usual morning breakfast announcement, but it came out all strangled and just flat out wrong.

I placed the plate full of scrambled eggs next to him where he slowly reached down to grab it, his eyes still glued to the television.

I slowly brought my fork full of eggs up to my mouth and chewed as best I could without spitting any out. It wasn't disgusting, but I didn't really feel like eating. So I set my plate aside and asked in an interested voice, "So, since it's break, we don't have to study anymore, do we?"

"Mm." He said, the fork hanging out of his mouth, still interested in the news. I took it as a yes.

"That means, I have the freedom to do anything with my time?" I carried on with caution. "Do whatever." He said. "That means _you_ can do anything with your time?" I asked. "What's it to you?" He asked, snapping his head toward me, eyes even narrower.

"Just saying." I said with a shrug, "'Cause I heard that Reiji is throwing that party for Shirona." "I'm not going." He said sharply, eyes back on the news, but I had this strange feeling that he wasn't paying attention to it.

"Oh, c'mon!" I exclaimed, "It'd mean a lot to her if you went! Besides, maybe this Daigo person is better than you thought!"

"What's it to you anyways?" He asked, "And I never thought of him as a _bad_ person." He added quietly.

"I'm going." I said in a defiant voice. "That doesn't matter to me." He retorted, "It's not like it's going to change my mind."

I quickly stood up and went to my room to change into some clothes I could go out with. I needed some fresh air. He would go to that party, I decided, how was he ever going to let go of Shirona if he didn't send her off properly?

"I'm going out." I huffed. "Like I said, don't care." He said.

I swiftly walked to the door, opened it, and stepped out into the hallway. I made sure not to slam it because Jun's grandpa next door was probably still sleeping. He was a nice old man who desperately needed whatever rest he could get.

I wondered if maybe I should take a train to Zui Town, the closest civilization from Tobari. I wanted some country air anyways.

It took most of the money that I was carrying right now to buy a ticket that didn't even reach Zui. It only took me through the rainy weather of Route 215.

I stared out the window through most of the train ride until I saw a familiar red bandana's reflection. I swiftly turned around and called Haruka's name.

"What are you doing here Hikari?" she asked in a pleasant tone, then immediately, she looked worried, "You didn't sound okay on the phone last night." "I was _fine_." I said, "I told you, I was sleepy. Why are you going to Zui Town anyways?"

"Zui?" She asked, "I'm not going _there_." She waved the thought away. "I'm going to the Mountain Hut in Route 210." "Mountain Hut?" I asked, "I don't think I've ever heard of them before." Her eyes widened at this prospect.

"So you've never tried their Moomoo Milk?" She asked in disbelief. "I've had Moomoo Milk before," I protested, "Just not _their_ Moomoo milk." "I'll buy you some when we get there," She promised, "it's the best kind of Moomoo Milk you'll ever have tasted."

"Sure," I agreed, "I've got time on my hands."

I could tell we were nearing Route 210 as the rain started letting up. For some weird reason, the stormy weather only seemed to hang around Route 215.

"That's it." Haruka said, pointing at a cute little cabin-like café.

A bell rang as we opened the door to step in. It looked very cozy. It seemed like a perfect spot to study. There were a bunch of smart looking guys and senior citizens talking quietly amongst themselves. The waitresses were walking from table to table taking orders or serving. The only thing they seemed to serve though, was Moomoo Milk.

"It's a really good place to study." Haruka whispered, "This place is where I usually come to think or study."

We sat in an empty table and waited until a waitress came to take our order.

"Two Moomoo Milk please." Haruka said with a pleasant smile. "Sure thing!" The waitress exclaimed with a bright smile in return, and she walked off to do her job.

Haruka sighed in content.

"So, why are you here _besides_ the milk?" I asked her suspiciously. "I don't know." She said truthfully, "Something just seemed to lure me here. It's a good thing though, because I know you're here because of a problem." "I was actually heading for Zui- thank you." I said as the waitress set two Moomoo Milk before us. "Welcome!" She exclaimed as she walked off.

"You know Shirona?" I asked. Haruka nodded as she took a sip of her drink. "Her wedding's is in late spring." I continued, "But she's studying abroad for a bit so Reiji had this idea to throw her a party celebrating their wedding before they left because they're coming back just before they get married."

"That's a bit of a problem." She agreed.

"That's not what I'm talking about though." I said, exasperated, "Shinji doesn't want to go, even though he _knows_ he's her best friend, or something along those lines."

"Of course," Haruka said, shaking her head, "it'd lead to Shinji."

I blushed furiously.

"I'm not doing this because of Shinji." I lied, "I'm doing this because of what it'd mean to Shirona!" This was partially the truth.

"Let him do whatever he wants!" She said, taking another gulp of her Milk, "He must have a really good reason for missing out on something as important to her as this." "Well, let's just say, hypothetically speaking, it maybe has a teensy bit to do with Shinji." I said, showing her how small with my fingers, "Then what?"

"That depends on what you mean by having to do with Shinji." She said, "What does he have anything to do with this party besides Shirona?- and drink some of the Milk! It's not poisoned!"

I had forgotten about the creamy liquid I was twirling with my straw, so I took a little sip of it.

Haruka was right.

It was _extremely_ good.

It was still cold, even though it'd been a while since the waitress had placed it in front of me. It was very refreshing and for a small, heavenly second, I almost forgot about my worries. The creamy taste still lingered on my tongue as I went in for a second sip.

"What if he doesn't go on with life?" I asked, "Just because he let go of his first crush?" "I doubt Shinji's like that." Haruka argued, "For all you know, he could've already let her go."

As much as I wanted to scoff at this idea, it _did_ seem like something he would do.

Just let her go, but still have a grudge over it.

"He's not a little kid." She continued, "He can make his own decisions, if he doesn't want to go, he doesn't have to go." This was very true. I wasn't very bothered by this idea, so what was this insecure feeling in my stomach? Maybe a very small part of me still believed he held onto Shirona.

"I guess you're right." I said with a semi-fake smile. Haruka seemed a bit surprised at this. "I am?" She asked, unsure. "It makes sense to me." I said, "You seem to be good at this kind of stuff!" "Maybe." She said slowly. But all the uncertainty seemed to wipe off her face as she drank more of her Moomoo Milk.

I was still a bit intent on having Shinji go to the party, but if he really didn't want to go, I wouldn't try to make him.

Or would I?

A sigh of contentment slipped through my lips as I drank the rest of my Milk.

"Wasn't that the best Moomoo Milk you've ever tasted?" Haruka asked in her know-it-all voice. "I'll never doubt you again." I joked. She chuckled.

"But I'm a bit hungry now." I said, "Know a place with great cake or something like that?" "Actually," She said suddenly, "I know this grandma that used to tell me and my brother stories a while ago. Let's go! It's not very far from here."

She paid for both Moomoo milk and headed for this grandma's house.

"We called her Grandma Tatsu." She said, "She was a genius at teaching our puppy tricks. She used to amuse us by showing us her dog."

But we didn't go very far before we saw some wild animals blocking our way.

A waitress outside seemed to be pleading them to move, but they ignored her and stayed where they were.

"Is there a problem?" I asked her nicely. She turned around with an evident blush on her face and stuttered, "Oh! N-no! I-I mean, I just need these animals to move along or the customers from Kannagi Town won't be able to reach here! I'm sorry if you were going to go this way, but I'm afraid that you'll have to wait a bit!" and with that, she turned around and continued trying to shoo them off.

Haruka looked at me and I shrugged at her. We both turned around and walked toward Zui Town. We had nothing better to do anyways.

We never quite reached Zui, though. We rested in the tall grass and talked until the sun seemed to be setting.

"I really wish there was a place like this in Tobari City." I complained, "It'd be nice to have a place to just relax. Wish I could come here everyday." "But, if Tobari city had a place as grassy and nice as this, it wouldn't really be the city hewn from rock." Haruka pointed out.

I was silent at this, but not because I had nothing to say, but because I was thinking.

"It's getting dark, I think we'd better get home." Haruka fretted, snapping me to my senses. "Yeah." I said reluctantly, "I guess we should." "We could come back tomorrow or something." She said, "Maybe we could even bring Kasumi! Heavens knows she needs a place like this."

We rose from our place, stretched a bit, and started on the walk to the train station, which wasn't very far, until I noticed something.

"Uh-oh." I said.

"What?" She asked.

"I don't think I have enough money for the return ticket." I said, looking in pockets for any extra change I might have. "You're _really_ lucky we met on the way here." She said, rolling her eyes, "I'll pay for it." "You're a lifesaver." I breathed.

I almost immediately fell asleep, lured by the soft pattering of the rain and vibrations of the train.

Haruka shook me awake as we neared the station and we both bid goodbye as we walked our separate ways. I took a great big yawn as I entered both the apartment room and my room.

It was only after I had gotten ready for bed when Shinji suddenly came in (I yelped and threw a pillow at him as I often did) and told me the most ridiculous things.

"Reiji called." He muttered, "Said the party was on Monday." (Today was Saturday.) "Okay." I said. He hesitated a bit as he closed the door, "He told us to wear something formal. And I think he mentioned he was going to pick us up." So with that, he closed the door.

After a few moments of silence, I sat up suddenly.

_Us_?

Did he just use the word _us_?

That meant he was going? What was that supposed to mean? That he'd accepted Shirona's marriage or what?

I hesitantly lie back on the pillow, fumbling with my sheets until I could fall asleep.

The next day isn't much to tell about, I just shopped a bit, what Shinji said still on my mind.

It isn't until the day of the party where it gets a bit awkward.

I had just finished getting ready.

I have to say, the suit Shinji wore really fit him, and did he style his hair or something? He looked taller than normal and he was looking-

Woah…

Let's get back on topic.

The car ride wasn't as noisy as I liked it to be, but with Reiji chattering on and what-not, I felt comfortable enough.

I couldn't help but shake the feeling of nervousness off my head, but I tried to act normal. Or as normal as I was acting these days. Either way, It was still getting along great until we hit the party.

Reiji had really went out of the way to make some kind of ball or something. He'd rented a whole Gym as it was called. Except it didn't really look like a gym at the moment. It looked like a palace.

I don't know if it was there in the first place or if Reiji had made some changes, but there was a giant, elegant chandelier hanging from the middle of the room and a few fountains here and there.

There was a whole orchestra filling the whole place with music where it lingered with echoing of conversations.

After a drink, I went to sit next to a fountain, I found the sound of running water soothing, when I heard my name being called.

"Hikari!" Shirona walked over to me, "I didn't know Reiji invited you! Thank you for coming here tonight!"

I shrugged, a bit embarrassed, "I was a bit flattered when he called." I answered. Seeing what she was wearing, compared to me, she looked like a Goddess or something similar.

"I'm glad Shinji came too." She said, "Thanks for bringing him here." "I didn't bring him here." I said, shaking my head, "He just said so himself." "That's what you think." She said with a wink.

Someone called her name and she turned and walked over to greet them.

I sat there, my eyes drooping until I was resting them.

"You can barely keep your eyes open either, huh?"

I snapped my eyes open and found a rather cute boy around my age staring me right back at my face.

"It's okay." I said with a smile I couldn't help.

"Don't lie." He said, "I was pushed into coming here." "You could say the same thing for me." I said with a sigh. He smiled a bit wider.

"My best friend is into this kind of stuff." He explained, "Not going to parties, but being social." "My excuse isn't that simple." I said. "I've got a lot of ti-" "Hikari!" I looked to my left to see Reiji running towards me, "The celebration's starting! Come on!" He took my hand and dragged me up.

I shot a regretful look to the boy who replied with a smile.

I tried to keep up with Reiji as well as I could without splitting my dress or tripping and killing myself.

Both Shirona and her fiancé stood up for a speech.

But I wasn't listening. I don't remember what it was I was thinking, but I think it was something related to Shinji. It was ridiculous how much you could think of one person this much in a day.

"Now we can dance!" Shirona said with a bright smile.

I didn't really want to dance. Actually, it was really better if I didn't dance for other people's benefits if not my own.

I couldn't help but spot Shinji as he made his way outside. All the same, I couldn't help following him.

"I thought you were some sort of a stalker." He said coolly as he whirled on me.

I scrunched my eyebrows together and shouted back, "I'm not a stalker! I just can't dance, is all." My voice went down a few octaves as I told him my embarrassing truth.

He scoffed. "No one can these days."

"What about you Mr. High-and-Mighty?" I huffed.

"I know a bit." He said, flicking a bit of hair out of his face.

A bit of my breath got caught in my throat.

"So, now what?" I asked him, sitting down on a step. "What do you mean by that?" He asked. An eyebrow raised. "Shirona's getting married." I said slowly. "So…" "She's pretty important to you." I reasoned stubbornly. "I can't deny that." He said.

"Ok," I said, straightening up my back, "what is with you coming here today?" "I can't come to a friend's wedding party?" He asked.

"I think we both know that you're regretting that you two were ever _friends_ in the first place." I retorted angrily.

He stared at me.

A few awkward seconds passed by when I finally sighed and said, "Never mind. I'm going back inside." I stood up to go when he said, "_Was_."

Yup.

An emphasized '_was_'.

"Just something." He said in a frustrated voice.

I bit the inside of my cheek.

"You know," I started, "I'm really jealous of Shirona." He looked at me so I continued after a deep breath. "She's got at least two people in her life that like or love her like that." I gave Shinji a smile.

"I've never really had a guy in my life that's like that. Not even a dad." I continued. Still, Shinji didn't say anything.

"I'm just saying." I said with a shrug, "But I know for a fact she's letting go of a lot of things when she's picking that other guy over you."

I glanced at him again.

He wasn't looking at me this time.

"You're a cool guy, you know?" I said, unconsciously stepping closer to him.

My senses were screaming at me to stop, this wasn't supposed to be what was happening, but I was doing it anyways.

"And you're one good-looking boy with a rockin' bod." I said, getting closer to him, still.

"Are you okay?" He asked me.

"You could probably make everyone fall in love with you." I continued, ignoring him, until I was only a foot away from him, "Heaven knows that I did." What? What did I just say? I didn't even know anymore.

"You're face is all red." Shinji said, catching my shoulders and giving me a bit of a shake.

"You're just a hard nut to crack is all." I whispered, grabbing hold of his tie and pulling his face closer to mine.

"A- annoying girl, what the hell do you think you're doing?" He said trailing off a bit at the end.

I could feel him trying to pull away from him, but I held firm which is the reason why we fell over and my mouth hit somewhere on his face.

I don't remember, I felt as though my head was going to burst and my stomach was acting all weird.

"Shinji!" I heard someone call.

That's around the time when everything around me faded into darkness.

XxXxXx

The next thing I knew, I was in my bed in my pajamas.

I was a bit hungry, but immediately regretted sitting up as everything in sight started to whirl around and I felt like throwing up.

I heard the door open.

"Hikari!" Reiji cried, carrying in a tray with some food and pills on it, "You're finally up!" "I feel like crap." I croaked. What happened to my voice?

"Ah," He said nervously, putting the tray on my lap, "it seems as though the drink yesterday night had some alcohol in it. I guess you drunk some and got… you know, high or something."

"That's great." I said.

"Take the pills." He said, "They'll help."

"I need a trash can." I said immediately.

He handed one to me where I promptly threw up everything in my stomach. Which wasn't much.

Reiji patted my back the whole way telling me to get it all out.

"You're finally up?" I heard Shinji say, "I thought I heard that sound before."

I looked up to make some smart retort right back at him when I noticed a bandage at the edge of his mouth.

"What happened to you?" I asked as I wiped my mouth with my sleeve.

"You know, missed my mouth caught it with a fork." He said sarcastically. "Hardy har har." I said, "Now tell me the truth." "Is that really your business?" He asked.

I recoiled.

"Sensitive." I muttered under my breath.

All he did was roll his eyes and walk away.

"I don't really feel like eating." I said, pushing the tray Reiji gave me away, "I think I'll just sleep some more." "Okay." He said hesitantly, "I have to go, so just tell Shinji if you need anything."

I nodded my head as I sank my head into my pillow.

Reiji pulled down the curtains and walked out of the room with a concerned look.

I snuggled into my covers drifting back to sleep peacefully.

Well, almost peacefully.

What was this weird feeling that was hanging over my head?

A feeling that I'd done something remarkable last night.

**Yay! Wooh! Yeah! I'm done! That was a pretty long period of time… Well… Today was my last day of school! Yeah! I'm done with 7th**** grade! Now for 8****th****… Anyways, April was just as busy as the other 3 months before it, but I made it through! Next update will probably be at least after June 10****th****! No! Why? Because I'll be visiting my relatives in Korea! I have to get up at 2:30 A.M. So, that's not so lucky. But I'll be having a great time! My gosh, I was giggling the whole time I was writing the whole scene. I can almost imagine all those people scolding me. "You're only 13! You shouldn't be writing these kinds of things!" Can't help it people. I did the end in a bit of a hurry, so I'm sorry if it sucked. Anyways, you can kinda tell that Hikari doesn't remember a thing she did the night before. Such a shame. But Shinji does! No worries. And… I think that's all. Well, I gotta pack people. Oh! And kudos for all those who can guess who the mystery boy is. Happy reading and have a good summer!**

**Kahmelion**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Hikari's POV**

I remember that for a couple of days, I'd had a nagging feeling that'd I'd done something I shouldn't have that day. Or said something… And the band-aid on Shinji's mouth made sure that feeling never disappeared. It wasn't until he finally decided to take it off that it turned into a passing thought. Although Reiji had congratulated me in making Shinji put on a band-aid since age six.

Sometimes, though, my eyes would suddenly wander to his lips. An unnatural habit, I hoped, that no one noticed. I tried to avoid him more and more, uncomfortable feeling or not. I'd just become too conscious of him. It seemed as though he could see right through me with his stare and it made me shiver when we made direct eye-contact.

I knew that at some point I'd have to face him, but the only way I face people is head-on. And I wasn't quite ready to do that yet.

Homeroom was all about the class trip (it was called "class trip" even when all senior year was going.) and as much as I wanted to go, everyone in class was getting mixed up with a honeymoon and an educational stay.

"I want to go to Sonoo Town!" I heard one girl exclaim, "It'd be so romantic!" I swallowed the urge to yell something totally undignified at her.

"Yosuga City has so many great hotels!" Some player yelled from the back of the room. This patience game was getting harder and harder.

I could tell the teacher was getting nervous.

"Nomose City would be the best place for swimmers like me." Kasumi stated nonchalantly. I had no problem with Nomose City except the fact that it was too marshy for it's own good. As a passing thought, I'd thought of Kotobuki City, thinking about my relatives there, but the only educational thing there was the broadcasting station. Plus, I knew one person who really wouldn't appreciate what the "City of Joy" offered.

"I'm fine with any place as long as they have great food." Satoshi said, no trace of a joke anywhere on his face.

"I've always wanted to go to Hakutai City." Haruka said wonderingly.

I actually liked the idea of Hakutai. At least everybody would be way too bored to do anything with each other.

I waited impatiently with my hand up in the air. At least _someone_ in this group should be dignified to do _that_. I wobbled my leg up and down as my impatience grew and when I couldn't hold it anymore, I slammed my hands down on my desk so hard that it wobbled and screamed, "HAKUTAI CITY!" Everyone in the room went quiet and I made sure no one would say anything as I glared at all my classmates in the room. Well, at least almost all of them.

The teacher, so relieved that order had come to his classroom for once, ate it up right away. "Ah… The city where history lives! An excellent choice."

I knew the only problem we'd probably have was transportation. Hakutai City wasn't exactly one train ride away.

Everything went the same for the rest of the week. We never really got anything done in homeroom because everybody (including the teacher) was too occupied with how we'd get to Hakutai. In the end, Haruka, along with some suggestions from a certain unusual hair-colored boy, (hint hint) decided which routes we'd take.

"So we'll follow Route 215 then follow Route 210 until we hit Kannagi Town. We'll eat some, and after that, we'll take Route 11, change buses after hiking Mt. Tengan, keep taking Route 11 until reaching Hakutai City." I was amazed that Haruka said this all in one breath. Although it was going to be expensive, I knew the teacher thought it was worth it, knowing that we'd pass however many relics as old as him.

We were scheduled to leave in one week and everyone was going crazy.

There were lot's of hustling as everyone tried to scrape up enough money to be able to go. I wasn't one of those people, my mom, hearing about the trip, sent me enough money to stay there for a month or something, even though we were only staying there for about a few days. When I gave her a call, demanding to know what she was doing giving me this much money, she just told me to go have fun.

I was packing at the last minute, being the procrastinator I am, and was folding any clothing warm enough to take with me on the trip. I packed as much necessities I could remember, deciding I'd put Mom's money to good use and buy anything I forgot over at Hakutai.

I knew that we'd be leaving early in the morning so we could make it to Kannagi by lunch, but I didn't really feel like sleeping. I wasn't really someone that was zombie-like in the morning if I didn't get at least 10 hours of sleep or something anyways. I'd just be extremely grouchy.

So I was up to about 12 doing random stuff on my laptop. Nothing bad or anything. If I think _really_ hard I think I make out a bit of Solitaire.

I'm sure everyone could see the dark aura hanging around my head as I loaded into the bus with my stuff.

"What happened to you?" Kasumi asked in an outraged voice. Or something close to that. "Couldn't sleep." I said, trying to stifle a yawn.

"Don't worry." Haruka teased, "Boys and Girls have different rooms." I shot her a glare that went unnoticed as the teachers started calling role. I nearly missed my name, almost going to sleep, but I figured I had enough time going to Kannagi Town. The name had been nagging at the back of my head ever since we had mentioned it, but I had dismissed it, thinking it was one of those facts that you never forget from you history book or something.

I opened my eyes, startled, when the buses starting moving out one by one and found that Haruka had slid into the seat next to me while Kasumi sat with Satoshi. I think they were the only boy and girl sitting side by side _not_ making faces at each other. Well, at least not the lovey-dovey kind.

As I was just about to drift off again, Haruka shook me awake and whined, "Don't fall asleeeep! I'm so bored!" I sighed. It was just Haruka, not being able to not talk to someone. Anyone!

"This trip is going to be so great!" She squealed. It was also just like her to get in over her head about some history city. "I've never been to Hakutai City before!" She went on, "Everyone in my family has already decided on what they want! And there's supposed to be some ancient, mysterious statue! I can't wait!"

Ugh… My head.

I put on a feeble smile and nodded, pretending to agree with her.

I was dosing off, pretending to listen to Haruka go on about the famous museum there or something when the couple behind us scoffed.

"What?" I snapped. My hostility didn't seem to have any affect on them.

"The only reason we didn't object to Hakutai was because of the Old Chateau." The boy said. Next to me, Haruka gasped. "I know that place!" She exclaimed, "Why would anyone want to go there?" "Well, it's the perfect place to do the "Courage Test" isn't it?" The girl answered.

I rolled my eyes.

It was just like 17 year olds these days (you know, the undignified ones) to get worked up about some haunted playground or something.

"Isn't it in that really creepy woods next to Hakutai?" the girl in front of asked.

"Hakutai Forest," Haruka corrected, "and it's not very far from the exit, you just have to go through some shrubs and bushes, and you're there."

"My cousin went there at midnight once!" Someone called in the front, "He said a little girl covered in blood ran straight at him with an ax!"

"That's not true! My friend said that it was just a dusty old mansion with dusty, old furniture, nothing out of the ordinary." "What the- none of those are true, my brother said that a man in the kitchen tried to cut off his head!"

People were squabbling left and right, and I had enough of this.

"SHUT UP!!" I screamed in a voice I didn't recognize as mine.

The bus went deadly silent and after a small bit of silence everyone went back to their own businesses, and I heard nothing about another haunted mansion as I dozed off to sleep.

XxXxXx

I awoke to the scent of food.

"Whas that?" I asked in a groggy voice.

"Well, we're at Kannagi Town now, and everyone's eating." A very familiar know-it-all voice responded. "Why didn't anyone wake me up?" I asked, raising my head up. "Don't worry, we brought you the same thing as everyone else." Satoshi murmured unhappily.

I reached out for whatever Haruka was giving me, unwrapped it and sniffed. It was food alright, wasn't very appetizing.

"What is it?" I asked disdainfully.

"A sandwich." Kasumi answered, eating it without complaint as she was taught to do.

"Sandwich? Why'd you bring me _this_?" I asked.

"There was nothing else." Satoshi complained. "_Nothing_ else?" I asked him in disbelief. "You've got to understand Hikari," Haruka explained, "Kannagi Town is super small, not really much of a restaurant here. Kannagi Town is more of a get away for senior citizens."

"You know," Kasumi scoffed, "The ones that've lost all their teeth."

After I ate my sandwich (with some hesitation, I might add) the teacher, who seemed so excited that it looked like he was _that_ close to wetting his pants, told us he wanted to show us something educational, and fulfilling.

Yay…

So we march off the bus and we're taken to practically the middle of the small town, which seemed like a crater hole as I looked down into it.

I raised my eyebrows as Haruka squealed at the tiny sight of the small shrine smack dab in the middle. "Isn't it _cute_?" She asked, tugging on my sleeve. It looked like an ordinary shrine to me. Though, I have to admit, it seemed like a little kiddy playground where children played 'house' or something.

But that wasn't what amazed me about Kannagi Town. Actually, it was what was beyond the shrine. It seemed like an excavation sight of some sort, but it couldn't be if it was a tourist attraction. Archaeologists were pretty strict about the whole people thing.

"What is that?" I asked breathlessly as I heard Satoshi let out a low whistle of impression.

"Archaeologists found etchings inside that cave." Haruka explained (of course), "They think it was some types of god the people from way back worshipped." "Except, they don't seem to look human." Kasumi added. "When did _you_ brush up on your history?" I asked her. She looked taken aback. "It was for an important test actually." She explained.

"So what, they looked like cat faces with human bodies or something?" Satoshi asked. "No, stupid." Kasumi retorted, "They look like little critters, with long tails. They actually look pretty cute."

We were finally led inside where the teacher, still looking close to wetting himself, explained to us what the pictures inside might mean.

I was barely listening as I closely observed them.

Kasumi was right, indeed they were cute, but I couldn't help but shiver as I noticed something out of place about this place. Unworldly some might describe it. But I dismissed it and went on looking at the pictures.

One was blue, one pink (or it might have been red, the colors were faded), and the other yellow. They all had a jewel in their head and two tails. And what was it they were floating out of. Lakes or something?

Either way, it was all very mysterious.

I looked around, trying to ignore the glare of the pictures (only two of them as the yellow one it's eyes closed).

I didn't know exactly what I was searching for, but perhaps my subconscious did, because my eyes landed on Shinji.

I wanted myself to look away and scolded myself when I didn't. Thankfully, the teacher called us out before he noticed me and I was able to unstuck my eyes from him as Kasumi started up a conversation with me.

I was almost to the bus when I caught someone sneaking away from the group. I turned my head slightly, so I might get a better look at him only to find it was Shinji. It was almost scary how I could seem to spot him from a mile away.

The line for the bus was shrinking rather quickly and I wasn't able to see who Shinji was talking to. I was sitting in my seat, straining to get a better look when I found out he was just talking to an old woman.

She seemed to be talking to him fondly, and Shinji wouldn't go searching for her is he didn't know her, so I guessed that she was someone he knew.

Finally, she patted his back and waved her hand, urging him to go now. He did a quick, polite bow and headed for the bus.

I quickly sat back down as he came onto the bus and shrugged my shoulders a few time, the posture I was in having been fairly uncomfortable.

I wondered who exactly it was he had been talking to.

The buses started up again, and with Haruka animatedly talking straight into my ear, I couldn't do anything but give up on the thought.

"Next is Mt. Tengan." Kasumi said blankly, "Land. It's not my thing." "That's weird." Satoshi scoffed, "You're here; breathing and walking. Anyone would guess it was your thing."

Kasumi made a face at him for which he gladly returned.

I rolled my eyes at both of them and made a comment about their immature behavior at which they both returned with a face on a whole different level. Haruka laughed.

It went on like this for an hour or so until we reached this Mt. Tengan.

Sure I knew about it. Everyone at Tobari City could see it. I was sure you could see it from any point on this continent, it was so huge.

"We have to _hike_ this?" I asked, gulping.

"We're not hiking the whole thing, silly." Haruka giggled, "We're just crossing through the inside so we can get across quicker." "What'd they do? Blow a hole through it?" Satoshi asked.

It seemed as though she was ready to answer, but something stopped her. "I'm not quite sure, actually." She said. "Holy crap!" Kasumi exclaimed, "_Seriously_?"

I saw the teacher twitch his head in our direction, but I guess he was too tired to do anything about her.

Haruka scowled.

"I don't know _everything_ Kasumi." She sniffed, "It's not like I'm a walking encyclopedia."

Satoshi, Kasumi, me and even many others around us snorted at that, but she didn't seem to notice, being the dense person she was.

It wasn't like I hated exercise or was too lazy. I was just afraid of the bags I'd have to carry. I imagined the pitch, black darkness and me dropping something, grabbing down to reach something, then taking something slimy instead and shivered.

I looked at the huge bag just waiting to be slung over me and started sweating.

This was going to be one long hike.

We started out in a line two-by-two, but later as we neared the entrance to the cave it turned into a mob, not that I was surprised. I wondered how long it'd take to hike through the biggest mountain in the region.

Some guides at the front yelled out instructions (thought I was too far away to hear them clearly), and soon we were streaming in. Some girls were clinging onto their boyfriends (I guess) pretending to be scared in a squealing voice.

"I'm scared of the dark!"

I rolled my eyes.

A little while later, we were in.

I could barely see a thing and the only source of light was the light of the flashlight that one of the guides were holding.

I tried to push up to the front, trying to get a better look at the cave. Satoshi and Haruka were a little ahead of us. The animate chatter of the people around us echoed around the whole cave, making it seem like there was a ton more people than there really was. (Although we already had a ton of people)

"I'm hungry!" Satoshi complained.

Even with all the noise, I could catch his whines from a mile.

"Ugh!" I heard Kasumi next to me say, "Then take some of these!"

She threw a packet of something toward his voice.

I heard a thud as it hit something.

Then, all hell went loose.

The light suddenly went off and what little vision I could see was gone. People were shoving and screaming from all directions and I could feel another headache coming on.

I could hear the tour guides, trying to calm everyone down.

What good they were doing.

I wasn't exactly stupid, but I was starting to get desperate with all the shoving going on. So I tried to feel my way away from the crowd. I just kept walking forward (wherever that was), pushing and shoving back as I went.

"Move!" I screamed as one stubborn student would not get out of my way.

I nearly fell as he succumbed to my command. At least, until someone grabbed me before I hit the ground.

"_You_ watch where you're going." Said a vaguely familiar voice.

Or not.

I groaned.

"What's happened up there?" He asked. (I should think you already know by now.)

"I don't know!" I said, "Someone up there dropped the light." "Idiots." He murmured.

I heard some rustling noises as he took off his backpack and searched for something. I resisted the urge to tap my foot as I had no right to do so, but it was all I could do keep myself standing. The panic was _not_ going down anytime soon.

Those idiotic guides should at least have an extra flashlight or maybe if lots of people crossed through here, they could put up torches or something medieval like that.

"Oof." I let out as someone from behind walked into me. And not so much as a 'sorry' where have manners gone these days?

I landed right on top of Shinji, who, about to lose his balance grabbed onto the nearest thing (me), and somehow, we managed not to fall to the floor. Though, I heard something clatter beside my foot and roll away.

"Well, that's just great." He growled, "Perfect. Now look what you did." I let out a breath of disbelief. "What _I've_ done? I didn't do _anything_!"

"Well, what are we supposed to do _now_? He hissed.

"Search for it?" I offered. "We can't do that." He said, "Our fingers would get trampled."

Somewhere up front, a light went back on and I let out a breath of relief.

Kasumi pushed toward us spotted me and said, "There you are! Look, they found their flash- what are you two _doing_?"

What?

I stumbled back as I noticed Shinji was still holding onto me, and suppressing a blush, I murmured, "Thanks." and started heading to the front of the mob. (Who had stopped screaming and shoving to my relief.)

"What happened?" I asked Kasumi.

"Heh heh." She let out nervously, "It seems as though I missed Satoshi when I threw the packet and it hit the back of the guide's head."

I looked at her like that was the stupidest thing we'd ever heard. 'Cause, it kind of was.

Well. Good to say that we made it out of Mt. Tengan without anymore unfortunate accidents and annoyances. Though the pathetic excuses the guide was trying to say was kind of distracting.

The sun was going down as we walked out of the cave-like mountain and I could swear all the students let out a breath of relief.

"Yes, well. On we go." The teacher said nervously. His comfort of being outside under the wide, open sky obviously shown.

For the first thirty minutes on our way to Hakutai, everyone talked about what happened in Mt. Tengan.

Exactly!

_Nothing_ happened in Mt. Tengan.

Like I said, those undignified teens these days. They can turn anything into a horror film.

For an hour or so, though, my head was filled with facts about Hakutai Haruka was spitting out. History, museums, statues, more history; it was starting to get tiring. But out of kindness, I smiled and nodded as she went on and on.

The rest of the ride resulted in sleeping. Probably tired from all the commotion in the mountain today, we were all sleeping like a baby. Even all the other students in the bus. There was nothing but silence (with the exception of a few rustles and snores); it was _heaven_.

But, unfortunately (or maybe not) Haruka shook me awake for what seemed like minutes after I fell asleep, telling me that we were there. I really couldn't have cared less, but then again, it might be a little beneficial. What with all the adoration Haruka gave it, I could at least sight-see a bit.

Wow.

I mean, it wasn't city beautiful like it was in Yosuga or back home. But it had a warm, cozy kind of feeling.

I could see the red-topped hospitals and a huge museum even beyond that. The statue at the distant right, looming and scary in the dark. We passed by a bicycle shop on the way. Tons of them shining in all different colors even though there was no sun.

I had to smile at the small town feeling in a quite big city. It was like a hidden spice.

We were in Hakutai City!

**AN. Yes, yes. Bad Kahmelion! You haven't updated in soooooo long! Well, I'm sorry. (And not sarcastically) But I've been **_**extremely**_** busy. Especially since my science teacher is a total drill sergeant and my English teacher is driving me mad! I have a holocaust oral report due Monday, but I'm taking time out of that to finish checking on this. I've actually had it for a while now, but it **_**still**_** stinks like bean curd. (Or something like that) Anyways… My resources kind of shut down on me during the end of this chapter, so I had type everything with the resources I **_**did**_** know, which isn't much. I'm trying to clear this up, but this isn't a world filled with Pokemon. Well, it's the Pokemon world, just no Pokemon. Because I've added the statue of Palkia/Dialga and included the whole Azelf, Uxie, and Mespirit. But they're counted more as legends. I don't know if you understand that, but oh well. Oh, and next time I put up and Author's Note, I usually delete them and replace them with a chapter, so I advise not to review on an Author's Note or else you won't be able to review on the chapter. But since I got a decent amount of reviews on the last Author's Note, I don't really want to replace it with the chapter, 'cause then you can't tell me your opinion on it. (Though you **_**could**_** PM me…) Oh, and I was going to type this chapter full of embarassments, but I didn't want to go overboard, so I guess it's the next chapter... Anyways… Happy reading!**

**-Kahmelion**


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note: **Change of format! Anyways, I'll admit I'm a terrible author (authoress?) and I suck at this whole updating thing, and I fail at life. I got it. So let's put everything behind us, yes? Including the fact that it's been over a year since I've updated this. Anyways, gonna keep this short and sweet. Happy reading! (Long time since I've said that, eh?)

**Chapter Fifteen**

It was amazing how one week could pass in no time at all.

I imagined heaven to be like this. If, you know, there was a heaven at all. It was so peaceful, and I could fully let go of myself. For the first time in all my years of living (which might not be _that_ long, I admit), I felt like I could get drunk off life.

But I was being stupid.

Of course I was being stupid; my life never goes as planned. There's always some sort of inconsistency. I'm pretty sure it weren't that way, I'd begin to doubt whether I was really who I was at all; but of course, all the same, it would be nice if I knew what fate had in store for me ahead of time.

However, I'd accepted the fact that some high, other-worldly being had a penchant for throwing rather disturbing obstacles in my direction. How else would I have made it this far, really, if I hadn't taken it in a long time ago? Maybe that was why I didn't even bother trying to protest as I was dragged out of bed at 1 in the morning.

I didn't even try asking where we were going, but judging by the looks on everyone's faces, I had some kind of terrible feeling at the pit of my stomach.

No one made a sound as we sneaked out of the hotel.

Was anyone dressed?

Well, we were in our pajamas…

Was it cold outside?

Hell yes.

Did anyone care?

Why would they?

I had managed to snatch my faded red sweater before leaving, but I could still feel the cold nipping at my skin, like some sort of snakes. Every cool breeze sent shivers down my back and I felt like just lying down on the ground, no matter how freezing it was.

Finally, when I had managed to pry my numb lips open, I asked in a rather fragile voice, "Where are we going?"

No one answered, but someone _did_ shush me. They did it quite violently too, and as taken aback as I was, I dare not make a sound.

Even though Hakutai was a city, I could see no drunkards at this time of night; no wanderers, no nothing. Obviously it was a city with morals. I decided that if I was going to be a hobo anywhere it'd be here.

I tried not to talk again, and found it rather easy what with my lips being frozen and all; but I still found it rather unusual that a herd of a hundred or so high school seniors were sneaking around in their pajamas.

As we neared the woods (of course we'd go for the woods) I spotted a cozy looking house, and I guess I paused for a bit, because I felt Haruka grab my arm and pull me along.

After some painful experiences with a few (or more) shrubs and bushes, we made it to what everyone had been looking forward to since our time in Hakutai.

The haunted chateau was actually a bit impressive from where I was standing, though now that I think about it, the view couldn't have been less impressive standing from anywhere else, because, let's face it, it was _just that impressive_.

It had to have at least three stories and a couple hundred windows; and although the yellow paint was chipped and faded and the whole thing seemed to sway as though the foundation was rickety, I couldn't help but feel attracted to the place.

"Doesn't it just give you the creeps?" A girl in the back asked, and though it was a whisper, everyone seemed to hear it.

I could tell that I wasn't the only one entranced by the haunted place, but someone rather quickly snapped out of it and told us the rules.

"Right, it's just a little dare," He started, "everyone's going to be in pairs, and partners will be picked through drawing."

I had a nasty gut feeling that made me want to punch the lights out of this guy, but I decided it wouldn't be any better if I were in the front telling everyone to just get the hell back to the hotel.

Soon, everyone had similar looking popsicle sticks in their hands trying to find their partners. It seemed so normal to be doing this. Just like a day when we'd change seats and we're trying to find out who sat in it before, but it was so much more than that.

I ended up with Jun, and though I felt a little disappointed, as I looked around to see who everyone else got, I decided that I could've gotten worse.

Kasumi had ended up with that one chlorophyll haired dude and I could tell from a mile, that she was not at all comfortable with him.

Before I could spot Haruka, we were both pushed forward in a sea of overcrowded students, and after a while of struggling, we decided to just "go with the flow".

The same rule guy as earlier was talking, but his voice echoed in the seemingly never ending darkness and his words were lost. I probably wouldn't have been able to hear him even if I was right in front of his face anyways. Jun had a habit of talking right into your ear.

"Look," I started, cutting Jun mid-sentence vehemently, "I want this over and done with, and until the end comes, I'm not going to hear a word out of you- I mean it!" Jun closed his mouth once again, and just to prove his point, he zipped and locked his mouth. At least, I think he did.

Something hit the back of my head and I twisted around to smack whoever did it. All I did was manage to hit my nose against something hard.

"Ow! Geez, will you watch it!" I whispered loudly.

"It's a flashlight you stupid girl."

The voice was a familiar one, but I didn't have time to ponder it, as I took the flashlight from whoever's grasp (though I really should've recognized from the nickname).

I nearly dropped my flashlight as the crowd started pushing forward yet again. I wasn't sure how anyone was going to spread out like this, but as we got closer to the front, I could make out a grand staircase and hundreds of doors leading to god-knows- where.

Pairs went in one at a time in a five minute interval, and it wasn't very long before we were up.

From the snatches I'd heard, everyone would go the same way so that no one would get lost. (all the while, I was wondering if _he_ even knew the way out.)

I noisily swallowed out of nervous habit, grabbed Jun's hand (or wrist, I'm not sure) and said in a broken whisper, "Let's do this." Before dragging him and heading for the first door on the right side of the right staircase- where the previous pair had gone through.

I felt Jun shifting in my grasp as I tried to turn on the flashlight with one hand (I couldn't trust Jun to be here without holding hands with somebody reasonable such as moi).

At first, I thought that he was doing it as a nervous habit and I asked him if he was alright. I soon found out that he was more excited than nervous, and it annoyed me to death that I was the more scared of this pair.

"It's going to be okay." I said, telling it to myself than him.

"This is so _exciting_!" Jun whispered energetically, "I _have_ to write about this as soon as we get back; I'm sure it'll give the teachers one _big_ shock- I mean, 200 seniors just about sneaked out right under their noses- Geez, I'm getting too much out of this."

I shoved him up against a wall (the right side, remember that) as soon as I heard him.

"You're going to _what_? Never mind I already know, what I mean is- you can't do that!" My nose was almost touching his and I was pointing the flashlight so it was shining right under his chin.

"Do you want to get us all _killed_ or what! A-and what'd I say about you saying another word!" I kept poking him with the flashlight and when he tried opening his mouth, I cut him up with a violent, "Can't you be quiet for _one second_ of your _life_?"

"I-I'm sorry," He stammered, holding his hands up near his face as a signal of surrender, "It's just… Well, we seem to have lost our way…"

I narrowed my eyes at him, and I saw his adam's apple bob as he gulped noiselessly.

Now, I must admit, that whole scene was actually pretty cool, I mean, how many girls get to push around a boy like that? But, I could feel all that awesomeness totally drain from me as I saw that we had come across a fork in the hallways. (seriously? A fork in the hallways? Whoever built this stupid chateau better have died a painful death.)

"W-well, I'm sure they left _some_ kind of sign, I mean how else could the others know where to go?" I tried to retain some of the coolness, but even _I_ could tell that I was terribly failing.

"Guess we should start observing, huh?" Jun asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I suppose. I guess I'll just loo- woah!"

I'd leaned against the left side of the wall (remember that I shoved Jun to the right side) and had suddenly fallen in. I wasn't even sure how it happened, actually. Now that I think about it, I suppose it was a hidden door or something. All that remember, though, is the panic that I felt.

Now that I was really in the dark, with nothing but a dim flashlight that hardly seemed to make things better, I could see why they called this a haunted chateau.

It wasn't only the old wives' tales that seemed to pass from mouth to mouth in this city, but it was also the feeling. I couldn't help but feel that something or someone was… watching… me.

It wasn't a very pleasant feeling.

I don't know what happened afterward, but I suppose my inner animal inside forced me to start running. I don't know how long; all I could feel was the pounding of my heart and my breath came in short gasps.

In a way, it drove everything else out of my head; how I was all alone, how the chateau was cold, creepy, so even when my lungs screamed for air, and it felt as though something was clawing at my legs, I didn't- couldn't- stop.

I was near sobbing when I hit something.

Like, really, really hard.

I nearly screamed if I didn't feel the warm hand cover my mouth; and although, I still really should've screamed, just the fact that someone else besides me was alive in this place was enough for me to just close my eyes and let out a breath of relief.

I'd let my guard down for a little bit before I immediately stiffened up and asked who it was, except, of course, everything came out as nothing more as a mumble.

Before I could get the chance to get his or her hand off me, he or she whispered into my ear.

"Who is this?"

I nearly let out a cried or relief.

I struggled to talk and gasped out, "Shinji!"

He let me go a little too quickly with an "Oh, it's you." And the cold was swarming all over me again.

I shook slightly; partly out of cold, partly because I was glad that I hadn't died of fright so far. I made sure my zipper was all the way up and hugged myself as hard as I could.

"What happened to _you_?" He asked me quite rudely.

I could feel the heat rushing to my head and told him as nicely as possible that I'd gotten separated from my partner, thank you very much.

"Blabbermouth ditched you, huh?" He scoffed, "Can't blame him."

"Well, what happened to _your_ partner?" I asked as mean as I possibly could without my teeth chattering, "I suppose they ran off as soon as they found out _you_ were going to be his partner?"

"She." He said coldly.

"Excuse me?" I asked, taken aback by his tone of voice.

"My partner was a girl." He said, and if I didn't know any better, I could've sworn that I heard a little bit of embarrassment in his voice.

"Oh, well, can't blame her then." I said so quietly I wasn't even sure he caught it; and despite myself, I could feel the jealousy start to bubble up at the pit of my stomach, and I heard my heartbeat a tad more loudly than I usually did. I closed my eyes and tried to escape the feeling, but I should've known it wouldn't work.

"A-anyways," I stammered, (without meaning to, of course) "You're lost, and so am I. How in the world are we going to get out?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" He growled, before letting out something that sounded suspiciously like a small huff, "I suppose we're stuck with each other for now."

"Yeah, stuck…" I mumbled, though 'stuck' was the last thing on my mind.

We continued on down different hallways, and I tried not to stay too close to Shinji, but I didn't try to stray too far from him either. The damn flashlights could only shine so far, and after about an hour of wandering, mine flickered out.

Now it was only one light ahead of us, and the hallways didn't seem to go anywhere except other hallways or doors.

I was shaking a bit more violently and I couldn't help but feel sorry for myself as I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined some kind of Caribbean cruise I'd go on once we got back from this stupid trip.

Just as I got to the part where I was getting a sun-tan from the blistering hot sun up above, I felt something fall on me, and I let out a small squeak. Then I realized that it was unusually warm and cozy.

I opened my eyes and looked at Shinji.

I nearly smiled.

Nearly.

But I didn't.

I tossed his coat back at him when I saw him shiver very, very slightly and grumbled, "I don't need it." I almost thought he was going to argue for a second before he suddenly grabbed my hand (not my wrist let me clarify) and pulled me closer to him.

"Stupid girl," he mumbled, "can't you stay closer; it's a pain in the ass to keep on looking back to see if you're not dead yet."

And when I heard this, though it hurt to smile, I did it anyways.

I gave his hand a small squeeze and hoped he knew what I meant by it; and though he didn't squeeze back (and I didn't expect him to), by the way his shoulders seemed to relax just a tiny bit, I could tell that he'd gotten it, my message.

Through the next 30 minutes, he didn't let go of my hand; and I didn't remind him either. It was nice and warm.

As we got to another dead end, he suddenly let go of my hand and told me to be quiet.

I didn't really concentrate after that. All I could think of was how cold it was again. I shivered one last time before making myself man up and told myself to concentrate on following Shinji. I straightened out my back and tried to walk with confidence; though I stopped when Shinji asked me what I was doing.

"I think I remember this place." He said in a low voice.

I scoffed, "How in the world can you remember anything? Everywhere, it's just doors and hallways." He ignored me and kept going, though I could sense a little bit of doubt; and immediately, I wished I hadn't said it.

After around 5 more minutes of walking, we spotted light ahead, and it took me all I had to not make myself start sprinting towards the brightness. Unconsciously, we started walking faster and faster which was fine with me.

I could almost taste sweet freedom, and it seemed almost like a movie the way the doors were opening so slowly.

The warmth engulfed me, and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to take in the air; clear, unlike the musty fog that covered the inside of the chateau.

However, I felt my heart drop to my feet as we found, not the late night air, but another room; a dining room, to be specific.

I could only glance at the room briefly before I felt Shinji snatch my hand and start running.

We ran down hallways, some familiar, others, not so much. We really couldn't care less. All Shinji did was run, and I just followed him blindly.

We hit door after door, aimlessly trying to find some way, any way out.

Finally…

Finally, we found it.

It led us out the back.

The cool air hit me like a truck and as soon as I opened my eyes and saw the hundreds of stars splattered in the black sky (not the lonely, cold black in the chateau, but a familiar, nostalgic one) I fell to my knees and just let it all out.

I feel a bit bad now that I look back.

I mean, if I were Shinji, I wouldn't really know what to do with a half hyperventilating half sobbing girl either.

I could tell he was trying his best though.

I mean, he let me cling to his front and let me get his shirt all wet, if that counts. There were a few awkward pats added to it too, kind of like a bonus.

When I started calming down, although this was the part where I realized exactly what'd I'd done and start crying some more just because of the sheer embarrassment of it all, I sniffled a little.

Shinji, poor guy, let me hold onto him a little longer, though he stopped petting me.

I raised my head a little bit and saw my masterpiece on his shirt; I backed away and stammered an apology. He grunted in response, so I guess all was forgiven. Really, any unintelligible sound from him could be taken as anything, and he wouldn't care.

We sat down on the grass and just listened to the crickets serenading us while the fireflies put on a little show of their own. I'd never been so relaxed in my life, and for the first time, I could appreciate what I had. I guess these kinds of experiences did that to you.

I was starting to get into the role of being a little kid and though I was a bit hesitant, I asked Shinji, "Can I hold your hand?"

He didn't say anything to that, but I held it anyways; and by the way he didn't seem to move away, I took it as a good sign and squeezed him again.

And this time, he squeezed back.

Without looking at him, I smiled.

Later, we'd both walk, hand in hand, around the chateau to the front where everyone was waiting for us (by that time, we let go out of embarrassment from both parties).

Everyone fussed over us, telling us they had looked all over the place.

I saw a rather pretty girl who rushed over to Shinji and kept shouting apologies in this really whiny voice I really couldn't stand.

Don't worry, none of us got caught, though all the teachers were rather suspicious when none of us could lift an eye when we were told to wake up. In the end, they gave up and let us sleep a few hours more. We got home much later than planned, and even though I'd slept through the whole bus ride (everyone had), I couldn't to reach my bed back at home.

Although I really loved Hakutai city, I realized I wouldn't be able to stay away from home very long anyways.

And though I loved every moment of our trip, my favorite part had to be when we got off the bus and for once, Shinji and I walked home together.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's note: **Though he's not exactly hers… Oh, and Merry early Christmas! It's gotten easier writing chapters when I'm not worried about the word count or the amount of pages. Sorry for some confusing moments you might encounter. Happy reading!

_You are the best thing that's ever been mine. –Mine, Taylor Swift_

(_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-)

**Chapter Sixteen**

I guess I was pretty used to chillaxing all the time in Hakutai city because when I arrived back home, all motivation to do my best in school had flown out of my head.

It was one chilly November afternoon and a light snow had started falling outside.

I _was_ supposed to be studying out where the television was, but the mood had been so depressing in the apartment that I'd picked up an even more depressing manga. It'd been one that Kasumi had told me to try out, though I'd never gotten around to reading it; and now, I was near the middle and I was silently crying my eyes out.

I'd been trying to keep it real quiet as Shinji was only in his room, and the way he reacted to the slightest noises made it seem like he though a slight sight was hard metal music; but I'd failed miserably. By the time I was a little past the middle I was _bawling_.

Oh god, how embarrassing.

I suppose after that haunted chateau episode I'd turned into a total _sissy_.

Shinji opened the door slightly; to find out why I was crying I suppose, and when he saw what I was reading, he let out a loud, irritated sigh.

I could hear his footsteps and I hurriedly tried to compose myself as he came nearer and nearer. He bent down to pluck the manga from my hand and asked me in a disbelieving tone, "Seriously? You have a test in calculus in two days and you're reading a _comic book_?"

I lost all my composure as he finished and explained to him, "You don't get it! She just found out that she has this incurable disease _and_ she's pregnant with that guy's child _and_ he has major trust issues!"

"Dear god, these are worse than those weird Asian house wife dramas." He muttered.

"I promise I'll study _after_ I find out what happens." I told him as I reached over to grab the manga back from him.

He easily avoided my hands and said in a calm, even voice, "You told me that you wanted me to teach you, so I'm teaching you." He walked towards his room, waving the manga in his hand, "_This_ is called self-discipline." And he closed the door behind him.

I tried to concentrate one how angry I was at him, but my runny nose got in the way so I just huffed and walked over to the tissues on the kitchen counter.

When I'd nearly used up all the tissues in the box trying to get the snot to stop clogging my nose, I decided a nice bucket of ice cream would lift my mood. I mean, geez, they worked better than anti-depressants; and I was right.

One tub of chocolate later, I was ready to start studying again. The brain freeze had brought me back to reality and I could hear the cogs in my brain start grinding together. It was well into the night before I realized that I was too tired to keep going and went to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

After a nice, long warm shower, I was brushing my teeth, trying to dry my hair with a single hand when I realized that I'd left all my notes outside. I walked out while brushing my teeth and let out a little sound when I saw Shinji on lying on the couch, my notes in his hand.

I sneaked over to where he was and looked around the papers to see that his eyes were closed. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding and smiled a little. I finished brushing in a rush and for a while, I was running around, trying to remember where the extra blankets were.

I finally found a quilt in a dusty little closet that I'd hadn't noticed was there, gently slid the papers from his grip and spread it on top of him. He was still in his jeans, but I had no mind to change him, though I was rather embarrassed that the thought would pass my mind.

A grunt took me out of my thoughts and I looked at Shinji as he struggled to get comfortable on the tiny couch.

His violet hair fanned his face and even in sleep, his eyebrows were scrunched together like always and his mouth was still in a firm line, but I couldn't help but think he looked a bit less intimidating when he was asleep. I bit my lip to stop myself from giggling when a few things hit me simultaneously.

First, a wave of strangeness washed over me.

I was aware of the changes between us from the time where we had first met just a few months ago. The air around us used to be filled with electricity, like just one wrong move, and one would zap another in a moment's notice; and now, here I was, in the exact same room where we had our endless arguments, watching him sleep. Of course, I'd seen him sleeping once before, but those were under slightly different condition; now it seemed like he could drop his guard around me. It was too alien of an idea for me, but I felt that it was a nice change. I liked this new atmosphere between us; not so full of tension like before, but not totally friendly. Just a bit relaxed; we could be ourselves around each other.

Second, I realized that it was _November_.

Graduation was in March, so November was practically the half-way mark. Though I realized we still had a whole bunch of time together, I was painfully aware of the end, and for the first time, 4 months didn't seem like enough. Even after we graduate, Shinji would no doubt be accepted into one of the best colleges. Where would I be? I realized the huge gap between us; something I'd never even noticed before.

Third, my mind wandered back to the phone call with Reiji.

It was something about Shirona going to be moving out in a little bit; the one thing that had haunted my mind these days.

If Shirona was going to move out of Reiji's house soon –the only reason why Shinji had moved out in the first place –I felt that Shinji had no reason to stay anymore; and why would he stay here with me anyways when he was more comfortable with Reiji for obvious reasons? There was no reason why he would pick me over Reiji. Didn't that mean that we didn't have 4 months anymore?

The realization made me feel as though Shinji was going to go somewhere far away and my mind was crowded with worry.

"I need more time." I felt myself mutter as I turned my head to look at the snow.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

I snapped my head back to Shinji in and stepped back in surprise. "Oh! I mean, you were just sleeping there, and I thought you might be cold, a- and, did you know that it's snowing outside?" I finished lamely.

Shinji rubbed his head like he'd just woke up with hangover and asked in an irritated tone that didn't really make me angry, "Can't you be quiet for _one_ second of your life?" (wow, déjà vu…)

"You're welcome." I muttered.

"How long was I out?" He asked. "Couldn't have been more than 20 minutes." I answered instantly, "Why? Do you need to do something? I really think you should be resting, you don't get nearly as much sleep as you used to."

"No, stop being nosy." He sat up, "and as opposed to you who gets twice as much sleep more than you need. More than eight hours of sleep and you _still_ can't wake up early enough for school." "Yeah, I'm working on it." I said softly, not really in the mood to be irritated.

Through the corner of my eye, I saw Shinji's right eyebrow lift ever so slightly as he sensed something wrong. He sighed and pushed the quilt off him, stood up, stretched, and walked around the table to get to his room before pausing.

"You should check over your notes a bit more thoroughly." He said, turning around to face me, "Your 7's look like 2's and your 6's look like 0's. It's ridiculous."

I let out a huff and said haughtily, forgetting that I was too tired to be mad at him (though insulting my penmanship was crossing the line), "I'm sorry if my handwriting's is a mess. Though you shouldn't be talking, your cursive looks more like meaningless child's scribble than words; a-and, where's my book anyways?"

He lifted up an eyebrow, "Don't you get what I'm trying to teach you? Self-discipline is something that you especially need to learn. How do you plan to succeed in your meaningless life without it?" At this point, I was clenching my hands in order to prevent myself from flying over to him and clawing his eyes out.

"But if you're really curious," my ears shamelessly perked up, "if you have some _patience_ and keep on reading, you'll find that the disease isn't life-threatening. Geez, how can you want to know what happens, that badly? I was praying that she'd just die throughout the whole thing."

I stood in stunned silence with wide eyes while Shinji walked into his room.

After a few seconds of silence, I started laughing, and I really couldn't care less whether he heard or not.

I finally calmed down, and went to my room, and slept comfortably with probably the most goofy, stupidest, grin on my face.

(_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-)

When I got up the next morning (Sunday), it was _cold_.

I wriggled my toes a bit to get the numbness to go away and took off my covers, which I hastily put back on as soon as the first wave of coldness hit me. Even after the wool pajamas I'd put on, I could still feel the winter air as though I was naked.

After a few minutes of reveling in the warmness of my blanket, I sat up and made an effort to deal with it. I slowly dropped the covers from my shoulders (which just made it worse, by the way) and stood up. I practically danced all the way to the door; the floor was _that_ cold (because the genius that designed the place thought my floor should be wood). Both Shinji and I made an effort to not mess with the thermostat, but I thought that he would agree that this was a bit too cold.

Apparently, he didn't think so.

"Don't we have any extra blankets around here?" Shinji asked with a not-so-subtle annoyed tone.

"Well, it'd be nice if I didn't have to cook with a 10 pound blanket covering my shoulders." I said whilst rolling my eyes, "There's nothing wrong with using a few extra bucks to keep ourselves warm. I'm sure everyone else does it."

"_You_ might be able to magically pull cash out of your pockets, but I can't." He said, not even looking at me, which made me really annoyed, I must admit, "It's not like you can't fix being cold in the winter, and we have leftovers in the refrigerator." "Oh, I wasn't aware that your majesty was okay with leftover food." I said sarcastically, to which he didn't reply.

I just sighed and got up to take out whatever we had for dinner last night.

As I opened the refrigerator, I shivered slightly. We didn't have much leftover, as I found out, from the night before, but I decided it was enough for breakfast. (and he deserved whatever small portion he got.)

The dishes clanked together as I set them in the sink for washing later and went back to my room to find a sweater or something.

I dug deep into my closet, and after a few minutes of searching, I'd finally gotten as deep as I could, and I still couldn't find something warm enough to wear, though searching had gotten me a bit sweaty.

My eyebrows rose, however, at what I _did_ find at the back of my closet.

It weighed a ton and it took a lot of effort to drag it out my room, but I managed. I could feel Shinji's eyes on me as I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand and let out a huff of satisfaction.

I turned to him and looked at him expectantly; as though I expected him to know what it was I had just dragged out of my room (which I kind of did). He just rolled his eyes at me, muttering, "_Why_ do I get the feeling that another stupid plan of yours if formulating in your head?" I scowled at him.

"Don't you know what this is?" I asked, patting it like I would a fond pet of mine.

"Am I supposed to?" He asked, one eyebrow raised high, as it often was around me.

"It's a kotatsu!" I exclaimed, with a big grin on my face, lifting my arms as though I was presenting something extraordinary (which it kinda was).

His eyebrow just rose a bit higher than usual.

I admit, I was a bit disappointed. I mean, I always looked forward to unfolding the kotatsu with my mother when the weather took a turn for the worse. Especially when we put up the kotatsu that my family had used even before I was born which was the very one that I had just pulled out from the abyssal depths of my closet. This particular kotatsu had a very homey feeling to me; and it holds a special place in my heart, however cheesy that sounds.

"Well, you know what a kotatsu is, right?" I asked him.

"Of course." He answered.

"Well, have you ever used one?" I pressed, crossing my arms.

He shook his head.

"Never."

I gaped at him. What respectable Japanese person would've _never_ used a kotatsu? It was unheard of! And I never would've expected this from _Shinji_ that was even more unspeakable!

"I mean, my brother wanted one, but we never bought one." He said, looking a bit offended, "It's not like it's a must have thing in a home."

"Are you kidding me?" I said, momentarily snapping out of my shock, "You must be the first person I've ever met that's never used a kotatsu." "Like I said, it's not like you need it." He muttered. I promptly ignored him and bent over to try to unfold the kotatsu.

After a little bit of struggling, I looked over my shoulder and asked, "Are you just going to sit there and watch me struggle?" "It's better than helping you." He answered. I gave him a ferocious glare (if I do say so myself) until he sighed, stood up, and crossed the room to help me lift the kotatsu.

He hesitated a bit and asked, "Wouldn't it be smarter to fold our regular table first?" I blushed a bit at my stupidity before agreeing with him and he rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath. Something about living with girls.

Shinji started folding the table up on his own before he looked over and asked sarcastically, "Aren't _you_ going to help me?" "I'm sure you can handle it on your own," I said with a grin, "You're big and strong."

I thought I saw a small blush brush his face, but by the time I blinked, it was gone so I waved it off as a trick of the light. The fact that I had hallucinated for a moment was much more probable than Shinji blushing.

After the regular fold out table was out of the way, we then proceeded to put the futon into place. I blushed heavily as we both spread out the futon together and a fleeting thought of feeling like a married couple crossed my mind before I hastily shook my head to get rid of it.

I rolled my eyes as Shinji made sure that the futon was laid out evenly and after he was confident that there were no odd lumps poking out from under the futon, we both started hefting the kotatsu; that is, until he decided that I was a nuisance more than help and declared that he would do it himself.

Geez, I should compliment him more often. Maybe if I told him he was a good chef he'd make breakfast, lunch and dinner for us too? Then a bad image of burnt food crossed my mind and I dismissed the thought.

It didn't take very long for Shinji to unfold the kotatsu. I mean, it was just like the regular table, just a whole bunch heavier. After he was done, he stepped back and tilted his head, as though he was looking at the results of one of his works or something. I did the same, though I was trying to take in the fact that the kotatsu looked a bit out of place in this apartment than me and mom's old house.

"Now what?" Shinji asked after a period of admiring the kotatsu.

I gave him a weird look and asked, "What do you mean now what? We just sit under the covers." I quickly hid a smile at the disappointed look on his face. It looked a little bit like a kid that discovered that he had gotten something totally different than what he wanted for Christmas, which was a first for Shinji.

"Did you expect something more?" I asked teasingly.

All he did was grunt.

I stretched a bit, standing on my tip toes and reaching for the ceiling. "Well, I think I'll be alright now." I said as I snuggled under the covers of the kotatsu. I shivered slightly as the feeling of my old home returned. It was a nice, comfortable atmosphere that I was familiar with. I was surprised that even after six months of being in my closet, the covers still smelled like my old house. It lifted my spirits.

I got up quickly and made myself some hot chocolate and grabbed some tangerines and ran under the covers again, changing channels trying to find anything interesting to watch.

"This is it?" I heard Shinji ask behind me, "_This_ is the purpose of a _kotatsu_?"

I glanced back at him with an offended look plastered onto my face, "What do you mean this is it? Of course this isn't the purpose of a kotatsu. You'll be surprised to find that the kotatsu can do some pretty unbelievable things." Shinji scoffed.

"I'll believe it when I see it." He said.

I smiled suddenly and patted the empty space next to me, "Then why don't you sit down and give it a try?"

He sighed before moving to sit next to me, and though I was surprised, I made it a fact to not let it show on my face.

We fought a little bit over the remote, but after I made it clear that I wasn't going to watch the news all day, he quit making a fuss and all was silent.

My past experiences of sitting under a kotatsu with my family had never been so tense or as silent as my moment with Shinji. All he did was rest his head on his hand as he silently read one of his big books on the shelf.

I stared at him for a little bit and was so concentrated on the way that his finger would tap the page he was reading that I didn't realize that he had caught me staring.

"Is this what you usually did with your family?" He asked me in an unbelievably slightly teasing tone.

"Wha-? I mean… Well, my mom and I usually just drank tea and ate fruit while we watched TV, but that was after it was only the two of us." Shinji's eyebrows scrunched very slightly. "What about your…" "He's dead." I said promptly, peeling another tangerine, "He used to drink," At this Shinji's eyebrows meshed together, "He wasn't abusive or anything, I mean I loved my dad, I can only remember good things about him, but he was diagnosed with stomach cancer."

His expression loosened at that and we lapsed back into silence.

I failed to concentrate on the program on the television and instead shoved a piece of tangerine in Shinji's face.

He looked a bit confused, staring pointedly at the tangerine before giving me a questioning look.

"It's part of the magic of the kotatsu." I said. "Having someone feed you tangerines?" Shinji scoffed, but nevertheless, he ate the tangerine.

Right out of my hand.

For a moment, my breath got caught somewhere along my throat and everything got warmer, but I bit my lip and tried to look cool. I tried not to look at Shinji so much after that.

After a bit of dozing, I stretched. "I think I'll go to sleep." I declared, and curled up on the floor, still warm under the kotatsu.

Shinji thumped me in the head and told me to go to my own room to take a nap, but all I did was scrunch my eyebrows together and refused to respond, and he finally let me do whatever I wanted.

I smiled as I wriggled around under the covers of the kotatsu and scrunched myself into an even tinier ball as thoughts of tangerines and hot chocolate danced in my head like sugar plum fairies as I drifted off to sleep.

(_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-)

It was really warm when I woke up.

Unusually warm.

It felt as though I was clutching a really big teddy bear.

The teddy bear was warm, and soft, and really, really comfortable; it was big and cuddly and gave me a sense of security that I had never experienced before. I fit into its arms perfectly, and I felt as though I could be there, in its arms forever if I wanted. It was also really heavy and had purple fur…

Purple…

My eyes snapped fully open and I clamped a hand over my mouth to keep any kind of noise from escaping. I gently unwrapped my arms from around Shinji's waist and tried to crawl out of his arms, but all that did was make him grab onto me tighter (which I didn't really hate…).

My breath slowed down as I grasped the entirety of the situation though the room just got a thousand degrees warmer. It was starting to get uncomfortably hot, but I was trying not to move so much as to wake Shinji.

I let out a slow breath as quietly as I could, trying to cool myself down and stared at Shinji for a little bit. I mean, he was at least a little bit easy on the eyes when he was sleeping, and this was the closest I'd ever been to him.

I'd started dozing off for a little bit when I heard him snort and start waking up.

"What?" He exclaimed as he quickly let go of me and I backed away from him as though just being near him burned me (which it kinda did.)

"I-I was trying to get out… Y-you- why were you even holding onto me while I slept?" I stammered, "I could file for sexual harassment. "M-me?" He stammered back (a first), "_You_ were the one that held onto me first!"

"How in the world would you know?" I exclaimed.

"W-what?" He asked, taken aback.

After a few moments of staring and unbearable silence, I stood up, and muttered, "I think I'll go sleep in my room." I was painfully aware of his stare piercing my back as I shuffled over to the door.

I closed my bedroom door behind me and sat on my bed for a bit before sinking my head into my hands with a groan.

I mean, I knew a kotatsu was supposed to bring people closer together, but that had been a bit too close.

"What do I do?" I asked no one in particular (except myself of course.).

For the rest of the day, I stayed in my room, pondering on exactly how much longer it would take before I was so deep into Shinji that I wouldn't be able to turn back.


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note: **_Warning: Cheesiness ahead_. Oh, yeah, I'm so totally unoriginal that I stole a clip of my other fanfic. If you want full experience of this chapter, _listen to the song_. If not, then fine. Don't experience it all the way. Ha ha, jk... Eh hem... In other news, I have replaced the first chapter with a much better written one. Happy reading anyhow

_How is it that we, how is it that now,  
__How is it that the two of us ended up here?  
__-It's First Love, IU&Na Yoon Kwon_

**Chapter Seventeen**

It'd been one week since the whole napping fiasco (because if I put sleeping, that'd sound a bit… intense…) and all of the character development we'd worked so hard on just flew out the window to my immense dissatisfaction.

We'd reverted back to tension-filled air and snapping electricity, though it was a bit different than when we'd first moved in together. Both of us were very fidgety near each other, and unconsciously, we put space between us physically and mentally. Neither of us could stand in a room together for five minutes before one of us made an excuse to leave.

To get my mind off of Shinji, I'd started engaging myself in ferocious study sessions. Although Shinji went out of his way every now and again to "teach" me, as he called it, for most of the time, we silently decided it'd be best if we avoided each other for a while. Anyways, winter break was nearing and tests were coming up. If I wanted to win that bet with Kasumi, I would have to give it my all. (Actually, I can't afford a pink diamond)

Both Haruka and Kasumi had noticed my change in study habits, and though they used to look at me with a knowing expression on their faces whenever I was deep into a book or my notes, they were completely surprised at my 180 degree turn.

"Who are you," Haruka teased, standing behind me as I tried concentrating on Physics one day in the library, "and what've you done with our Hikari?" "Oh, knock off." I said in a grumpy voice. My brain wasn't cooperating with me on this particular day.

"Do you not get something?" She asked in a curious voice as she pulled up a seat next to me, "What happened to Shinji tutoring you?" At which a hoped I wasn't blushing furiously.

And there it was again with another damn knowing expression.

"Would you stop that?" I whispered vehemently as I slammed my book on the desk. The librarian looked over the top of her glasses in a warning stare that I was not a stranger to.

"What're you talking about?" Haruka asked in an alarmed tone.

Like she didn't even know.

"You always have that damn expression on your face," I hissed, red in the cheeks, "like you know something that I don't." Her hand flew to her face in a surprised gesture. "Oh!" She exclaimed quietly, "Is it _that_ easy to figure out?"

"What're you talking about?" I asked. "No," She said shaking her head, "what are _you_ talking about?"

"W-what?" I stammered.

"It's useless to hide it." Haruka said passively, messing with her bangs, "We both know how it is with you and _Shinji_." At this, she threw me a knowing glance that just made my anger thermometer grow a bit more.

"There's nothing going on between me and Shinji." I grumbled, picking up my Physics textbook once again. "Aww, c'mon!" She said in a pleading tone, stretching across the table in a cat-like manner, "Don't deny that there's something between you and Mr. Grumpy-pants."

"Seriously?"

"Just because I'm 17, it doesn't mean I can't resort to name-calling like any other 6 year old."

I just raised one eyebrow. Shinji had really started rubbing off on me. Well, I suppose there was no chance in denying it.

"So what?" I asked in a tone that stated I didn't care one bit though I was feeling quite the opposite. Haruka perked up at that. "So, you two _are_ together?" "Of course not." I stated, giving her a pointed look, "It just means that there's something between Shinji and me."

Haruka pouted.

"But if it's not love, then what is it?" She wondered. I sputtered.

"L-love?"

She glanced in my direction before turning back to staring aimlessly off into space. "I've been there," She said with a sigh, "done that." I could feel her focus fading from me, and shook her back to earth. "It's not love, it's a crush." I said, "It's just infatuation; you know how we are at this age. We bounce back quick." Though I had a strange feeling in my chest that I was trying to convince myself more than her; and strangely, it felt like I was lifting a great burden off my chest, so I guess it worked.

"Hikari," She said it so clearly and full of control that I immediately looked at her, "I really hope what you said was right." And she walked away.

My jaw dropped in disbelief as I saw her disappear behind a shelf and wondered how she could just leave like that without clearing a few things up first; but I quickly decided that that was what Haruka did, and if she didn't do it, it simply would not be Haruka.

After a few hours of actual successful studying, I sighed and told myself that it was time to go home. I scanned the library to find it mostly empty and the librarian asleep.

I took as much time as possible getting back home, kicking snow every now and again to relieve my boredom. Taking the long way home, I decided I would visit my old house; see how it was doing with new people and, you know, just check up on it.

I was satisfied to find that it looked just like it always did.

Bright lights adorned the rim of the roof and a wreath hung on the door. From the window, I could see a family putting up ornaments on a Christmas tree and I sighed in longing. It was December already.

And as I stood there, an indescribable feeling came over me. Something was off about this place.

I stared for a few more minutes before I became aware of the fact that a person staring into a window of a perfectly normal house would not come across well with the authorities and started back for home.

Home…

I guess that was it.

That old place wasn't home anymore; it was house, but it wasn't _my_ house or home. It was somebody else's. I had another place to go when I had a bad day and another room to collapse in when I was sick with a fever.

This feeling of awareness suffocated me, and I had a strong need to sit and cool down for a bit.

I found a bench nearby (because Tobari City is littered with them) and rested my head on the back board for a second. Seconds felt like minutes and minutes like hours. Who knew how long I sat there? I was aware of how dark it was getting, and how late it was, but I didn't want to go back home, which was weird. Home was where you _wanted_ to go back to dammit!

I threw my head into my hands and screamed in frustration.

This was it.

This was the point of no return, I realized that now.

I could feel my heart thudding again my chest, as though it would burst out at any second. I didn't like this one bit. I wished it would go away. I wished that I had never agreed to sharing a room with Shinji. I was positive that I wouldn't be feeling this right now if I hadn't made that one fleeting decision in the first place. I really wished…

I lifted my head from my hands.

"_This_ is where you were?" Shinji panted, "Do you know how _late_ it is?"

I resisted the urge to grab onto my chest as my heart started beating faster and faster and instead put up a pathetic smile. "Were you worried?" I teased. Shinji grumbled about women as he sat on the bench to catch his breath. "No, I was just wondering if some girl-napper managed to take you." He snapped; and I chuckled under my breath as I remembered that night.

"I still have your spoon." I said with a smile. "If anyone else had been around to hear that, they might have gotten the wrong idea." He said disdainfully. My smile grew larger.

We sat a while in strained silence.

"Hey, don't you think-" I started, but he cut me off.

"Let's forget about that." He said. I looked at him curiously, honestly confused.

"What are you talking about?" I asked tentatively.

"Last week," He said slowly, "it's not going to happen again, just pretend that even never occurred. It was a coincidence anyways and it's not like anything happened." I was thoroughly taken aback by what he had just said. Though at other times, I might have agreed with them, what he said really bothered me and I felt my anger start to grow.

"What, we wake up in each other's arms, and you just want to forget about it?" I asked angrily.

"What are you getting so worked up about?" Shinji asked, giving me a confused look. "Nothing." I spat, "Absolutely _nothing_. Let's just go back home." And without protest (though he still had confusion written all over his face) we walked back home, the air around us filled with tension.

Another few days passed, and now, the whole school was freaking out about tests and such. I, on the other hand, was fully confident in my studying and was rather calm about the whole idea, though it was rather amusing to watch Kasumi.

"Don't bother me, I'm studying." She recited as I approached her.

"Isn't it usually the other way around?" I asked, amusement laced into my tone. "Yeah, well," she said, still not looking at me, "are you prepared for tests?" "Are you kidding me?" I asked in disbelief, "What do you think I've been doing ever since we made that bet?"

Kasumi looked up wildly.

"Bet?" She asked, "What bet?" I sighed in exasperation. "You know," I said slowly, "that bet we made a few months back, what with me getting into the top ten- you know what? Never mind."

"Oh," Her eyes dawned with realization, "I remember; yeah, that too. Anyways, I'm busy. Why don't you go on and flirt with Shinji or something." She turned back to her studies, too deep into her notes to see the shocked expression on my face.

I huffed angrily. I suppose everyone knew. I shouldn't be surprised, I wasn't totally blind to how I had acted ever since I'd noticed this feeling; but I walked on anyways, deciding that it was best to leave Kasumi with her beloved textbooks.

Life was a total bore.

I stopped by the library before going back home to flick past pages of my textbook. Just in case; but it was stuff I already knew.

I was surprised at myself, yet I remained strangely calm about it. Looking back at myself since June- July whatever- that time when I moved in with Shinji, I had become much more of a laid-back person. Too laid back and too damn observant.

Damn… I really liked using that word.

"Are you going to stare at that page forever?" I heard a voice behind me ask in a familiar monotone voice.

"Shuck off." I mumbled into my hand. "That's a new word." Shinji said. I could see his expression in my head as I said that, and I closed my eyes as if doing that could shut him out.

"What're you doing here?" I asked in a strange voice, "Aren't you the one who's all about maintaining distance in school?" But, I knew what it was all about; and I was a bit happy about it. I could clearly tell that that napping episode had made an impact on him like it had done to me; but I could also see him trying very hard to forget about it, and make amends. Amends to what, I didn't know. I was never aware of the rift that it had caused between us; but I was happy that he was trying to fix it, however unliked of him that was.

"Exams are coming up." He stated simply. "I already know everything." I grumbled. "Well, why don't we just make sure." He said, snatching my workbook before I could protest. I pouted as he looked over my work, pointing out all my mistakes and bad handwriting.

"How on earth are you supposed to keep track of your equations like that?" He asked in disbelief, "It's a wonder how you got the correct answer to that one." "It's how I roll." I said, satisfied at what seemed like a compliment from Shinji (or as close as Shinji can get).

We studied for a few hours more before I declared that I was tired and would much rather go home. Shinji simply waved me off and told me to go home by myself as he would stay in the library, and as I was walking home, I wondered when we had started acting like such a _couple_.

Was it a good thing or a bad thing? I didn't know. Everything was so confusing. All that Shinji was involved in was an exception to my rules of life.

I covered more of my face with my scarf until my nose disappeared.

I wanted another bench to sit in, but I knew that thinking was dangerous and instead looked forward to getting home to read some more depressing manga that Kasumi had lent me. (Before she went into her studying mode, that is)

I was right. The manga _was_ really depressing, but I successfully managed to keep my sobbing to a minimum. Ahh, I was really a sucker when it came to this stuff. Normally you wouldn't take me for a cheesy, romance whore, but it was my guilty pleasure.

"Again?" I heard Shinji say as he caught me from the door.

"It's so depressing." I sniffed.

"Aww, don't worry Hikari," I heard another voice call and I dropped my manga in surprise, "it ends all happy and stuff." Shinji let out an irritated groan and I sighed as I picked up my manga again. Jun was really annoying, but I was strangely glad to see him. He was just the sort of comic relief I needed at a time like this.

"Hi!" he said, inviting himself in, completely oblivious to the death glare Shinji was giving him, "I was visiting my gramps again when I thought, 'Hey! My best buds Shinji and Hikari live here! Maybe I should give them a visit!'." I wasn't sure whether he was being sarcastic about the best buds part.

"I thought I told you never to come here again?" Shinji said; but Jun just laughed it off, calling him _silly_! Completely unheard of; but I giggled lightly anyways, just for the sake of it. Jun seemed to be the only one that could get any kind of rise out of Shinji.

"Are you going to be staying for dinner?" I asked him while he was in the middle of explaining his next story; Shinji gave me a pointed glare which I ignored, I didn't really want to eat dinner with only him for company. It would've been too awkward.

"Aw, you're too kind," Jun said, clearly embarrassed, "but I have to go keep my gramps company. He's probably still waiting for me the poor old bugger. But, what'm I gonna do?"

"Yes, yes," Shinji said, "that's very sad, now why don't you go now?" "I really do." Jun said, getting up (the sarcasm was lost to him), "Sorry Hikari, maybe next time." "Or not." I heard Shinji mutter. "Well, that's too bad, maybe next time." I repeated, ignoring him.

Jun left, and all was silent as I got dinner ready.

I was right, dinner was extremely awkward when it was just the two of us; and finally, I was at breaking point.

"I can't forget about it." I said suddenly (and quite loudly).

"Huh?" He grunted as he reached over to pick up a pickled cucumber.

"I don't get it," I said in an irritated fashion, "how can you be so damn calm about it?" Finally he caught on and said, "It's not really a big deal. Bodies crave for warmth all the time, obviously we'd gravitate towards each other if we were sleeping." He continued eating.

Gravitate.

What a perfect way to put it.

"And," He continued, "It's obviously bothering you, so I just thought it'd be best to forget about it. Ever since it happened it's like daily PMS for you. You just keep getting louder and louder. Stupid…"

"It's not like it didn't affect you like it did me." I scoffed as I resumed eating, "You're just doing a more awesome job of hiding it than me." The conversation should've been very awkward, but it was strangely very easy. It just seemed like a regular dinner conversation.

"And of course you would know that." He responded sarcastically, "So we woke up next to each other; it only happened once, and what did you expect? For us to get married? You're just overreacting."

We ate the rest of our dinner in silence; but the conversation was a kind of relief for me. At least I had said what I'd wanted to say, that was good enough for me.

After about an hour of just turning over in bed, I gave up on sleep and walked out of the living room and turned on the television in hopes of finding something decent to watch. I don't know why I didn't expect it, but I flinched as I heard Shinji come out of his room; and suddenly it was déjà vu.

"You're still up?" He asked, weariness heavy on his tongue. "What about you?" I retorted, my eyes still focused on the screen, "A-anyways, it's not like we have school tomorrow or anything." "And it's not like we don't have tests first thing on Monday." He said, "I just need a drink of water."

I was surprised at how easily he was answering my questions. Just one week ago, he would've told me off for being too nosy. I wondered if something had changed about him.

Lots of things ran through my head as he walked to get his water, and I could feel time slowing down on me.

I felt that if there was any time to do what I was thinking of, it was right now, right here; but I didn't really want to do it. It was too risky, too dangerous. It was a leap of faith; and Shinji was right, I was making a really big deal out of something really small, but I was afraid.

I heard Shinji take his first gulp of water and I felt my own throat start getting dry.

Thoughts of what to do swam through my head, and everything became dizzy. Was this the effects of liking someone? Or maybe it was something different that I was feeling? Something much more complicated than 'boy likes girl' and vice versa?

This was no good; I was starting to think complicated thoughts again.

"Are you okay?" Shinji asked.

I noticed how tight I was holding the remote, and how my hand was shaking. "It's just really cold." I excused. "Even under the kotatsu?" He asked with a hint of teasing.

I managed to crack a smile at that.

He made a move to head back to his room, and before I knew it, I heard the words escaping my lips.

"Hey, can I try something?"

His eyes deceived suspicion and he cautiously asked, "What?" "Just something." I responded. I looked at him then and patted the seat next to me.

"How about I go to bed to get some sleep?" He said. "I'm just experimenting a bit," I said innocently, "it's not like I'm going to murder you or anything." "Hm." He grunted. "Just sit down."

He sat down, though a bit further away than I would've liked.

"Now close your eyes." I commanded.

"Are you_ sure_ you're not going to murder me?" He asked. I thought he was making fun of me at first, but then I saw the look on his face. "No, I'm not going to murder you." I said, rolling my eyes, "Who else is going to pay the other half of the rent if you're gone?"

"I don't feel like it." He said, turning his head away from me. "Stop being such a wuss and just do it." I sighed, "I told you I wasn't going to kill you, isn't that reassurance enough?" "Oh, yeah," he scoffed, "That's plenty of reassurance. I think I can completely trust you now." But he closed his eyes anyways.

My heart raced, and I couldn't breathe.

This was it.

It was now or never.

So why was I backing away? No! I was supposed to go for it! This was my chance! My chance to see… to see what?

His lips were strangely capturing, and something tugged in the depths of my memories as I stared at them.

I tried not to breathe out too much as I neared them; still, something was tugging, pulling, I was forgetting something. I was sure about it. For a minute, I pulled back again. Something in the back of my mind was telling me I couldn't do this again. Again? This was all so confusing.

"Well…?" Shiji asked, eyes still closed.

I couldn't keep him waiting. Waiting for what? I had momentarily forgotten, but I bit my lip and tried again.

I was really close now; my eyelashes nearly brushed his nose. I knew he could feel me this close.

_Why wasn't he moving away? _

Was the same thing going on in his head that was going on in my head? Questions swarmed in my brain, but I was going to leave everything unanswered and just focus on now.

The rational part of my brain and every inch of my body was telling me not to do it, but I was going to do it. Something just… told me… that I would regret it if I didn't do this now; but another thing told me that I would regret it if I _did_ do this.

But do _what_? I asked myself.

But I knew what I was doing; what I was going to do, and I wanted to do it, so I did it.

It was for a moment.

For just one, fleeting moment, our lips pressed together; it wasn't a deep kiss, our mouths weren't moving, they just stayed together.

I had closed my eyes so I didn't know if his eyes were open; but for one enrapturing second, we were kissing.

Then we heard someone gasp from the doorway.

We pulled apart and a string of curses flew from Shinji's mouth, but I couldn't care less; because that one second had answered everything.

I was aware that Jun had caught us, I knew what I would have to face at school the day after next (besides tests that is), and I knew that whatever comforting air around me and Shinji we'd been desperately grasping at ever since we woke up together had disappeared into thin air; but only a few things really mattered at this point.

I'd been at the point of no return, staring over a cliff.

I'd taken the leap of faith; but I'd missed the other side entirely. I was unsure if there even _was_ another side I could've reached because now, I was falling into a deep, dark abyss.

I was falling, down, down, down into the forever blackness.

And there was only one word for it.


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: **Oh god, angst much? Sorry, but this is how I need to get the story going. Oh, and I'm sorry for the confusion with the whole door thing, I'm an irresponsible author. Happy reading? Or maybe sad reading…. Guess what? Yup, that's right, one more chapter to go.

_When I wake up, the dream isn't done __I wanna see your face and know I made it home  
__If nothing is true, what more can I do?  
__I am still painting flowers for you  
__-Painting Flowers, All Time Low_

Once upon a time not so long ago, a girl sat, trapped in her tower.

She was perfectly content with her life.

Sure, she was practically grounded for all eternity, but at least she had a small window to look out. That window answered all of her questions.

So she never asked for more.

But that prince _she'd never wanted_ just _had_ to come prancing along.

Well, okay; not _prancing_, exactly. More like sulking. So yeah…

He comes sulking along and… well… she got curious. Because this wasn't something that the window could exactly answer.

So when that prince asks her to let down her hair (or more like demand), instead of letting him come in, she goes out.

Of course, whether or not the prince safely catches her in his arms is a totally different story. Or if they even ride off into the sunset. I'll never know.

I'd been sure I'd locked the door, but apparently, I hadn't.

I got a severe lecture from Shinji after that.

And just like that, everything went back to normal.

"I knocked a few times!" Jun responded defensively, "No one was answering, but I could clearly see the light coming from the bottom of the door!"

I really couldn't care less.

He never asked what happened between us.

I suppose he was uncomfortable about this as much as we were, because no one brought it back up. So I would never be able to know exactly what would happen after.

Trust Jun to ruin a moment.

That was okay though, because at least _we_ were back to normal. Shinji and me, I mean. As long as that wasn't gone, I thought it was all going to be okay. I wouldn't need anything more.

Who was I kidding?

My inner girl was just dying to find out what he felt after that move. Did he like it? Hate it? Confused? Regretful? Because that was how I was feeling right now.

I was not happy at all that I had jumped from that tower.

Why in the world had I let curiosity get the better of me?

I hadn't just killed that cat, I'd completely mangled it. That thing was road kill.

So days turned into weeks, and soon, (too soon if you ask me) those weeks accumulated into a month.

Winter break had started.

On the upside, no school.

On the downside, no school.

That meant hours of spending time with Shinji alone in an apartment room, because god knows how many friends he has. I didn't know what _my_ friends were doing, but each had called in busy.

But that was okay, because _everything had gone back to normal dammit!_

Despite that, sometimes, I'd find my head in my hands, looking down at the floor.

I was still falling from that tower, and I didn't know when I'd hit the ground, or find a pair of warm, strong arms around me. I was hoping for neither.

The other option, that one impossible option, was for me to go back in time and never have jumped from the tower to begin with, but of course that was out of the question. But if that prince pretended I was still back in the tower, did it mean that he wasn't going to catch me?

Because the reality was, I was still falling.

And I was terrified.

Of both options, not just being rejected.

There were times where my heart ached, just looking at him; hoping, beyond all hopes that he would say something about what had happened that day in November. A girl can't be left hanging like this, it'd drive her mad!

There were so many things I wanted to scream.

And sure, I was probably acting like an overdramatic prima donna, but the last thing I wanted was- oh god, cheesy line coming up- my heart to be broken.

I'd gotten a bit attached to him after all these months of living together; sometimes everything would go rushing by, and I felt as though I was watching a freight train. Sometimes I tried to convince myself everything was a dream, because, truthfully, that's what it felt like.

Falling in love is scary.

I thought it'd be simpler than this.

The worst part is that I'm acting like this when it's so simple: just grab him.

But I'm hesitating, and I don't want to admit that I feel that way about him, because, well, I don't want anything to change. What we had was sturdy, a good base structure, something that couldn't be swayed.

Love…

It was too unpredictable.

And I knew Shinji enough to know that he didn't like unpredictable.

There were times when he'd slightly linger over my hand when I passed him the remote, or the salt, or whatever. Times where he looked like he was going to touch my face or my hair, but those moments came to pass, and we pretended like it never felt like it was going to happen.

So, time passed like that.

We were playing a game of pretend; and I don't think he realized he was hurting me while playing it.

Once, just once, Jun tried to bring it up.

He didn't do it very subtly, but he asked me what had been going on when he walked in.

"Barged in." I corrected, then I walked away.

Then, I'm brought back to the present as a hand roughly shakes me from my pondering.

"I said pass the remote." Shinji says, his eyes scrutinizing me, as though something is wrong with me.

"Sorry." I murmur, as I pass him the remote.

There it is again.

His hand is taking too long. Just grab the remote!

He takes it away and changes the channel, but I'm not paying attention because it's probably something like the news or the weather.

It doesn't take a genius to know it'll be snowing on Christmas.

Christmas.

That's two days from now.

Mom was supposed to be coming back, but her job had kept her away for this year. I hadn't minded, I'd promised Haruka I'd celebrate with her, and she'd insisted that we celebrate at my apartment, which wasn't really a problem because Shinji was going to celebrate with Reiji anyways.

Thank god.

I wondered why Shinji wasn't moving back into his house. Shirona was gone anyways, and it wasn't like it caused him _too_ much pain to be around her anymore. He didn't even _act_ like she was his first love.

And just like that, I'm brought back to the 'now' again as our shoulders accidentally brush. The spot burns, and I can't breathe.

I stand up suddenly.

"I'm going out." I say almost robotically, and I turn away and head towards my room.

I'm painfully aware of his stare digging into my back, but I can't bring myself to meet his gaze; something I would've done with ease (if not with a challenging look) months ago.

"Try not to get kidnapped," Shinji calls as I walk out the door, my coat and boots on, "it'd be troublesome for me to pay for the rent alone."

I blush and smile (my first real smile in a while) and say I'll be careful.

It'd be bad if I took those words to heart, so I try to forget them as soon as possible. Something quite easy to do as I feel the frigid winter air coat over my face, making my face redder than it already is.

I stretch my arms up to the sky, reaching for the falling flakes, and I stare, mouth slightly open at the endless blackness, being littered with white. I smile, because for once, this dark night seems inviting. Offering me freedom.

I don't know where I walk, but no one's out tonight.

No couples in the park, a few shoppers finally out buying Christmas gifts, but the city seems to be sleeping.

I kind of like it.

I walk, and I hit this edge.

Of course I climb down it.

And I'm faced with an endless clearing.

I sit down on one of those conveniently place benches that litter the city and I stare, because that's all it seems like I'm doing these days.

Suddenly, I snap to attention and look around for any people, but there are none.

I take a deep breath, and I scream.

Not a scream, but you know, I scream words.

"YOU _BASTARD_!" I start, it feels good, "WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ME!" Oh, but I don't stop there.

"TELL ME SOMETHING! ANYTHING! I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!"

Oh dear, now I feel like crying.

Someone's probably heard me by now, but I don't care. Who can find this sort of place anyways? The whole area seems like it hasn't been visited in _ages_. Like an abandoned part of the park.

"NOW YOU'RE MAKING A GIRL CRY!" I continue, "YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE CALLED A MAN ANYMORE!"

No one replies, not even my echo; but I tense as I hear my voice sweep across the clearing, doomed to be lost in the darkness forever.

Then, I start laughing.

Because it feels like the world's been lifted off my shoulders, and because I know someone's staring at me from that ledge I climbed down.

"You need to stop finding me like this, huh?" I ask Shinji.

"I called you a few times." He says simply, "You wouldn't answer."

"Why would you call me?" I ask, quickly wiping away the tears running down my face.

"I forgot to buy Reiji a gift, I was going to ask you if you'd buy it while you were out," he responds, no emotion detected, "but I see I would've been disturbing your scream fest. By all means, carry on."

"Oh, shut up." I say with a weak smile.

He turns to leave and I, startled, call, "You're just going to leave me here?"

His face appears again, "I'm waiting for you to get up, stupid girl."

I wish he wouldn't be this way.

If he didn't show me this side of him, then I wouldn't have so much trouble trying to get him out of my head. If only he went back to being cold, and mean, and… and… mysterious. Somewhere along the way, I'd gotten to know him enough to know that deep down, he wouldn't leave me here.

And that he's pretending that he didn't understand a word of what I was screaming just now, that douche bag.

"Coming?" He asks, his eyes still emotionless, but his voice just daring me to say no.

"Yeah, yeah, be a bit patient." I call back, getting ready to heave myself over, but I find I don't have to as I feel a warm hand grab my wrist and pull me up.

"You shouldn't be so nice." I murmur to myself unconsciously.

"Well, if I weren't people like you would die unnecessarily." He retorts.

I laugh.

It really has gotten a bit comfortable between us. Almost like- do I dare say it?- _friends_. And that doesn't really bother me. Sarcasm is always a plus side for me.

Smiling to myself, I think about our situation. Well, more specifically, _my _situation. I'm almost thinking back to that time where we were trapped in that haunted chateau.

Sure it had scared the hell out of me, but I'd like to think of that as our starting point of friendship/ love drama thing. Stupid soap operas are getting to my head.

We're back home, and I'm wondering whether or not Shinji ever got that present for Reiji, but I push that to the very back of my head, because I shouldn't care about that sort of stuff.

Well, that's what I'd like to think (let's cast that into that huge pile of other stuff I'd like to think) but I'm feeling kind of guilty as I watch Shinji walk out on 10 PM, Christmas eve as he's getting ready to visit Reiji empty handed.

"I _told_ you I could cook something for you to take." I sigh when he complains about stupid, loud girls that deprive older brothers of presents.

He doesn't even look back and wave as he heads out. Not that he'd done it before.

As soon as he's gone, I start tidying up the place; because, technically speaking… Shinji doesn't know that Haruka is coming over.

But despite all the worries I have and all the problems stuck in my head, I manage to forget them as I see Haruka's smiling face, staring at me like I'm her best friend in the world. Well, I am.

"It's always so fun coming here!" She squeals as she stretches on my couch.

Okay…

_Our_ couch.

"I feel really bad about taking you away from your family this Christmas." I say as I lay some snacks on the table, "I really could've just went over you know."

"No need." Haruka says, rolling her eyes, "Mom _wants_ me out this Christmas. In fact, she's currently having this delusion about how this whole thing visiting you is a cover up for spending Christmas with a boy."

"Boys," I repeat, "ha!"

"Speaking of…" Haruka says, leaving her sentence open ended, but her expression tells me everything.

"Nothing is going on between us." I say in an exasperated voice.

"What?" she says innocently, "I didn't say anything." "You didn't have to _say_ anything." I sigh, "I could read that expression on your face."

"Oooh," she whines, "I want to hear about some _progress_! It's so boring these days, and truthfully, I just want to see some happy endings going on around here."

"Create your own happy ending." I say.

She blushes at my words, but she goes straight back to me. It startled me, in fact, that she'd gotten from point A to point B so fast.

"I know you're hiding something." She says in a serious tone.

And it's not even a kind of playful serious, it's like, 'I can see right through you and I know what's going on, but if you won't tell me, I'm just going to have to force you.' It was kind of scary coming from air-headed Haruka.

I remain silent.

Lying doesn't exactly come naturally to me.

But I can't stand that she looks hurt when I hesitate. "Of course, you don't _have_ to tell me." She says, angling herself into a more comfortable position on the couch.

_Damn_, this wasn't how I envisioned my Christmas.

Not with me bawling my eyes out, and feeling kind of good about it.

And especially not with me admitting something to my friend, something I didn't even want to admit to _myself_ until I was, well, falling, falling, falling, and getting ready to hit the ground.

"You just kissed him." She said in a comforting voice, "It's okay, it's not the end of the world, you'll kiss a whole _bunch_ of other guys in your lifetime; and I bet they'll be a thousand times better than that asshole, don't worry."

It wasn't enough to make me feel better, but I appreciated that she'd swear for me.

"And it's not like you _felt_ anything after that anyways." She's still stroking my head as I freeze, "You can come live at my house until you've graduated. It's all cool."

"Well, it's not like I said I didn't feel _anything_." I say, pushing the pause button on my sobbing for a moment. Haruka stops petting me and looks at me with an incredulous look she probably didn't mean to have.

"Don't tell me that you've gotten serious about him?" She asks, "I mean I knew you _liked_ him, but I don't think he's a good person to, you know, _like like_ over."

I stare at her blankly.

"What?" I ask, eyebrows scrunched together.

"Never mind." She says, waving me off, "The point is… well, okay… Why don't you _clarify_ what it is exactly that you're trying to say.

"I don't think it's entirely impossible to say…" I start, each word getting fainter and fainter as I try explaining this feeling to her, "I mean, it wouldn't be _that_ surprising if, you know, I kinda…"

"You love him." She says bluntly.

"I _what_?" I ask, startled, when in actuality, she's taken the words right out of my mouth, but a part of me wants to stall. It's useless, because I already know, but I think I'm trying to deny it one last time.

The last stand.

"I wouldn't exactly say…" I trail off, and I'm silent for a moment.

"Love is a strong word." I murmur, so quietly I'm afraid she didn't hear me.

"It's the _right_ word." She corrects, pointing a finger up in the air as though she's a teacher, teaching a student the error of their ways, "It's the _only_ word. Why are you denying it? It's not like you."

And I got angry, because I knew she was right.

For some reason, I was denying love with the entirety of my being.

Maybe it was because I knew it wouldn't last, that if I got caught up too much in one person, I'd do something to anger God or something and he'd take them away from me.

Just like dad.

I didn't think I could feel that pain again. And that was just _my_ pain, I couldn't even _begin_ to imagine how mom had felt after dad died.

Great, now I'm being all angsty and sort of coming to terms with my past. Just like that damn manga. Life could be a bitch sometimes.

"Well, if I made you bring up some unpleasant past or something… you don't _have_ to admit it." She said nonchalantly, but I could see that through her façade, she was just dying for me to confess. Sometimes she really knew how to push my buttons, and push them _hard_. But she was right. I _had_ to admit it.

"It's too scary." I admitted, "I don't like this feeling." "Don't we all?" She sighed. "I feel like I'm not in control anymore, like I don't have the right to do anything. The only thing I can think about is _him_ and how he'd do this or handle this or what he'd say if I did do whatever it was I was thinking of doing." Oh dear, not the waterworks.

But she's staring at me intently, and everything comes pouring out, not just the story, but _everything_.

Haruka's just the kind of person that will listen to all of someone's problem. I guess that's why everyone likes her so much.

"So what are you trying to say?" She asks gently, pressing a hand to my back, something my mother used to do when I was trying to apologize about something that was totally _not my fault_. It kind of made me actually want to admit to her that I did _indeed_ have some sort of feeling like love for Shinji. Something beyond something insignificant like a crush. A feeling I wanted to hold onto.

"Yeah… I guess… I love him?" I say sheepishly, still crying.

"Oh c'mon!" Haruka says, excited, hitting my back as though if she hit me hard enough, I would start coughing off courage.

"Okay, okay, I love Shinji."

And with absolutely _perfect_ timing, we spot someone coming in just as the words leave my mouth. I can't say with absolute certainty that he heard what I'd just said, but before he can give any sort of explanation (though knowing him, he wouldn't even try), I grab my coat and still with my slippers on, I push past him and run out the door.

I can hear someone calling out my name, but it's not Shinji. I know that with certainty.

There's not much I do once I get outside.

I breathe deeply a few times, but I don't cry. Crying makes me weak, I've figured that out now. The last thing for me to do is cry. Nothing happens when I do it. Some people would pity me or be sympathetic, but I'm not going to get anything I want by crying.

That Christmas, I walk home with Haruka and celebrate the rest of the joyous holiday at _her_ house. And her family welcomes me with open arms though her mom is just a tad disappointed when she finds out that Haruka was indeed spending Christmas with a friend and not with a boy as she'd believed.

In fact, I stay at her house longer than I probably should.

Of course, her parents don't mind, saying that they love having me over and all the other stuff parents say to their children's friends; I know that they mean this sincerely, but I can't help but think I'm overstaying my welcome. And in the deep, inner crevices of my head, a boy's voice (or maybe I should call him a man?) echoes, agreeing that no one wants so much noise staying at their house for too long.

And I almost cry.

I don't return back home until New Years Eve.

Haruka and her family had protested of course, saying I could stay with them until school started again, but I knew that I should probably get back home and make sure Shinji didn't starve while I was gone.

However much I didn't want to believe it, it'd be problematic if he did, and I'd be a bit sad.

Just a little bit.

Besides, I'd purposely scheduled my coming home while he was still at work, that way, the meeting would be a tad less awkward, but I guess his work had given him a break, because he was home.

"Oh, you're back." He said, glancing at me for a little bit.

I still didn't know whether he had heard me or not, but something in my gut told me he had heard loud and clear. A bit too loud and clear.

It was especially painful to go back to what we had this time, but I tried to revert to my original, sarcastic, cynical self.

But I have to give myself credit.

I made it till dinner.

Then I guess I just snapped. Well, not snapped, that's kind of an overstatement, I just gave up.

"I know you heard what I said." I say in a tired voice, "Just admit it, you heard everything."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He says in an especially cold voice. A voice that signifies the end to the conversation, but I'm tired you know, and a tired girl is like a girl on PMS I always say, even if no one else does.

"You heard what I said," I repeated, "please don't hide it. See? I even added a please in there. I've even said the magic word." The one word that you've been trying to get out of me since we moved in together.

"Good job," he scoffed, "you've managed to remember all the lessons of a purple, dancing dinosaur."

And we were back to that tower thing.

I was still falling.

In fact, I was dreadfully close to hitting the ground.

And he was still pretending I was in the tower, probably waiting for me to let down my hair like a good girl and all that BS.

"Fine, be that way." I say, "I get it. I'm stupid, and noisy, and ugly, and fat, and your life would probably be much easier if I didn't feel that way about you."

He remains silent.

It's at that point, I know I've hit the ground.

So I grab my coat, for hopefully the last time, and walk out the door.

And it's only when I see the first of red blossoms of fire blooming in the sky that I realize it's finally the new year.


End file.
